Wonderful Unknown
by violetalissa
Summary: When Poppy gets kidnapped for an Original vampire, she finds that her twin, Elena, had been lying to her about her world for the past year. However, she soon learns that it isn't exactly what she had imagined. Especially when she has a huge crush on the Original she was kidnapped for... Elijah/OC - Rated T - First Vampire Diaries fic please review! Now off of hiatus!
1. Being Leverage

Four girls sat, crammed in the oldest Gilbert's room. All but one were getting ready for the masquerade party that was being held that night.

Caroline sighed as her hair was being held in the curler. "Elena, I can't believe you aren't coming. This is one of the biggest and best parties that Mystic Falls holds." she said, shaking her head, and making her neck burn. It didn't hurt her, but she winced for show, due to the younger twin being in the room. Bonnie rolled her eyes at the action. She thought from the beginning that they should have told her about their new world.

"I know! I mean, you go to all the boring ones anyway _._ Why don't you dress up? Masks are fun." Poppy said, looking at her older sister. Elena just shrugged.

"Poppy, I'll be fine. I just want you to have fun. Don't worry about me, Stefan can come over and we'll watch a movie and have popcorn or something." she said, smiling at her twin, who in no way looked like her.

Poppy had long, light blonde hair that reached her lower back in somewhat-loose curls. Her bright green eyes were the opposite of Elena andJeremy's. No one knew _how_ exactly she got her features, because both of her parents had brown hair and brown eyes. All that everyone knew was that she was beautiful, in her own way. Poppy was, and always has been, short, but it looked good on her because she also happened to be naturally fit and petit.

While people noticed her beauty, they were mostly focused on Elena, who had more model-like looks, with her long legs, and tanned skin. Meanwhile, Poppy was stuck with her almost inhuman, pale skin. She often joked how she looked like she could be compared to Edward Cullen in the sunlight, seeing how her paleness 'sparkled.' Not all of her friends seemed to appreciate the joke though.

"Sure you will... I know you and Stefan have been having problems lately." Poppy muttered, rolling her eyes at Elena. Knowing her twin, she would probably watch Gossip Girl without her or something instead of 'watching a movie with Stefan.' No one seemed to hear her though, which she was partially thankful for.

Poppy looked at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a long, burgundy dress. It had a sweetheart neckline, giving off a sophisticated look that she didn't normally wear, but the masquerade had always been a lot more formal than the other dances in the town. Poppy was wearing black, strappy heels gave her a couple extra inches, making her not as ridiculously short as normal. Her abnormally light, blonde hair was in a side fishtail braid that reached her waist. The only other piece in her outfit was a small necklace that had the letter 'P' on it. However, this hardly counted anymore, as she never took the necklace off, due to it being a gift from her father from her 11th birthday.

She smiled at her reflection, loving that she got to rub in everyone's faces that she wasn't going to the party with them.

Finally, the other girls were ready, and they all went together, each excited to see if any people there were worth their time.

Caroline was quick to leave her friends, finding Tyler Lockwood {the son of the deceased Mayor} and disappearing altogether. It was obvious that something was happening between those two, but it seemed to Poppy like everyone was avoiding them as a topic for some reason that she didn't know. Honestly, she thought that they would be cute together...

"And then there were two..." Poppy said, smiling over at Bonnie. "It's so obvious that Care and Tyler like each other. I mean, how many hours does she spend with him a week? Personally, I liked it when Caroline and Matt were together... They were cute. What even happened to that?"

Bonnie shrugged, but Poppy could tell that she was hiding something. "I guess they just weren't feeling it anymore... but I agree." she said, trying to convince the blonde that that was the only story there was to be told.

Poppy gave her a look that clearly said 'I know you're hiding something' before changing the topic again to some dress that she wanted to get the next time she went to the mall.

At some point near the end of the party, Bonnie decided to ditch her date/best friend for something that must be more important. So, Poppy walked around the big mansion, deciding that since there wasn't much time left, she might as well have some fun snooping at the fancy luxuries before leaving. They certainly worked hard to put things together in the small town of Mystic Falls. Poppy always found it strange how many gatherings there were there, especially for such an unknown town. That was when she saw a familiar face out where the cars were all parked.

"Elena," she said, walking outside to her sister. "I thought you were staying home. You know, to 'watch a movie with Stefan' or whatever you said."

"I changed my mind." Elena gave her a tight, and obviously forced, smile. The blonde raised her eyebrows. What was up with her?

"So... Are you enjoying the party?" Poppy looked at her sister and noticed she wasn't wearing a dress or anything fancy. "Why aren't you all dressed up? And why are you covered in blood?"

Elena was about to reply when Poppy felt something hit very hard on the back of her head and her world turned black.

* * *

When Poppy woke up, there was a huge throbbing in her head. What the _hell_ just happened? She looked around and noticed that she didn't recognize her surroundings. _Where_ _was_ _she?_

The first thing she did was feel for the necklace. She let out a sigh of relief when she felt it there, and traced the 'P' that curved its way around the metal. At least she had a small piece of home with her, even if she was kidnapped by someone who was probably as evil and crazy as Disney's interpretation of Hades.

She sighed and got up, ignoring the throbbing that worsened when she stood, along with the dizziness. Poppy knew that she had been kidnapped, so she made sure to make her footsteps light and quiet. This was rather hard to do, because she was extremely clumsy, and the fact that she was wearing heals wasn't helping anything. She took them off, knowing that it would be impossible to be quiet with them on. Walking down a flight of stairs, she turned to see a man. With a _coat hanger_ stuck _through his stomach._ What the _hell?_ Poppy bit her fist to stop from screaming at the creepy gray dead guy. Instead of screaming, she just slowly walked backwards, not wanting to have a place in this if the police came. She wasnot getting involved in this.

Poppy was almost out of the room when she heard a loud clang, meaning that something fell on the ground. She closed her eyes as she mentally crossed her fingers that the clang wasn't something as creepy as the dead gray guy, but when she turned around, she saw that it was something even worse. It was the dead guy. Except, he wasn't dead. He just looked very, very annoyed.

The guy cracked his neck and straightened his destroyed suit to make it look a littlemore presentable. Now that he wasn't all gray and veiny and dead, he wasn't that bad looking. In fact, if he had a better suit on right now, Poppy would even say he was handsome. This made her raise her eyebrows. The dead guy was cute. Only, wasn't he the one who kidnapped her?

Throughout this time, Poppy stayed speechless. She just looked at the creepy zombie man in awe, wonder, and fright. Sure, he's cute, but that still didn't stop the fact that he kidnapped her, and that he was dead and _came back to life_.

The man finally looked over to the small girl, staring at him with big, green eyes. "I take it that you are Poppy Gilbert. I am Elijah Mikaelson, Original vampire." he said, casually with his slight English accent.

Poppy's jaw dropped as her eyes, somehow, got even bigger and her pale skin turned nearly as white as a sheet. What the hell?This crazy zombie {vampire?} creepy guy was saying he's a _what_? Who did he think he was?

"Ah... It seems that someone is unaware of the supernatural." 'Elijah' said.

"Holy shit. You- you just said that you were a vampire." Poppy said, shaking her head, as if that would clear it from what was happening in front of her. "But that's impossible, because vampires are fake. I think you need help. Maybe you should go to a doctor or something, because you were _just dead._ Like, you were completely impaled. I mean, how did you...? What the hell is even happeningright now?"

'Elijah' rolled his eyes at the girl. This only made her angry. She glared at him.

"Dude, listen, you kidnapped me and _you're_ the one who's angry? Excuse you, but I didn't exactly ask for this either. And I need to get back home. Did you bring a car? But, I'm sorry, I just can't seem to understand how you're still conscious after being _impaled._ " Poppy soon began rambling, much to the thousand-year-old's annoyance. He rolled his eyes once again.

"Miss Gilbert, it would be greatly appreciated if you shut up." he said calmly. How was it that a human he had just met had already bothered him so much? "I have to leave, and I don't need to hear your voice rambling about nothing, while I'm trying to sort out some of the events that had just taken place."

At this, the girl dropped her jaw and raised her eyebrows. Now, she was just getting annoyed. This guy couldn't go around telling her what to do! She just met him! What kind of authority did he think he held over her?

"Listen up, _Elijah,_ I don't know who you are, but I was kidnapped with my sister, and I don't know where she is, so I'm going to look for her. After that, I'm leaving, and hopefully, I'm never going to have the displeasure of meeting you again."

"Well, that is rather unfortunate. You see, your sister already had her saviors come for her, and she is gone. It seems as if they left you here." Elijah said, now with an amused smirk on his face.

Poppy frowned. No. That couldn't be right. Elena would have saved her... Wouldn't she? _Yes, she would, Poppy. Don't think like that,_ she thought to herself, shaking her head.

"I don't believe you." she said, glaring at him. She paused for a moment, but couldn't help but ask, "Who saved her anyways?"

"The Salvatore brothers. It seems as if they have yet again fallen for a girl coming from the Petrova bloodline. Currently, I don't seem to understand the interest." Elijah said, casually leaning back on the wall where he once was hanging. He was acting as if he wasn't dead just moments ago. However, this wasn't the only thing on Poppy's mind.

Poppy frowned. "Wait. So are Stefan and Damon also... vampires?" she said. Then she shook her head at how stupid this all sounded. "Wow I sound crazy right now..."

"Yes, they are."

"You know, you act like you're some awesome bad-ass vampire guy, but then a teenage boy with the help of his twenty-year-old brother put a coat hanger in your chest without much trouble. I mean, at least it doesn't _look_ like there was much struggle..."

Elijah rolled his eyes. Then, just like that, he was gone from where he was standing, and was instead holding the blonde against the wall by her throat, glaring at her, but still holding a calm expression. "Do not test me, Miss Gilbert. I am older than one thousand years old, the Salvatores are flies compared to me. A mere stake in the heart cannot kill me. I am the oldest vampire existing, also the strongest. I recommend not getting on my bad side." he threatened. His voice was quiet, which only made it more intimidating.

Poppy just looked at him with her wide, green eyes. After a second, she regained herself. "Fine, god. Chill out a little, I'm a teenage girl. What am I going to do to you?" she said, raising her eyebrows.

Elijah sighed. He had expected a better, more interesting reaction from her. Well, at least a more average reaction. A scream seemed more necessary, rather than the simple 'chill out' that he got. It actually annoyed him that he didn't get the effect at all. The only thing that showed that she was scared was the fast heart beats that were pumping the blood in her chest, which she couldn't really control.

Through all of this time that he had spent thinking, Poppy. Would. Not. Stop. Talking. She couldn't help it though! This was what she did when she panicked – she talked! Her dad used to always say that in order to make a kidnapper let you go, your best bet was to annoy the hell out of him. Of course neither of them ever thought that she would get into a situation like this, but she certainly used this information now. Plus, Elijah seemed like his head was about to explode any second now. Hey... This gave her something else to talk about.

"Are you alright, Elijah? You look annoyed and stressed and tired and exhausted. Maybe it's time to take me home so that you can, like, take a nap, or get an aspirin, or drink blood, or whatever you vampires do these days... I'm feeling tired myself. I bet that Elena's going crazy looking for me."

* * *

Elena sighed, relieved to be out of that crazy, vampire, drama-filled house. Damon and Stefan had taken her to the Boarding House and she was sitting on their couch, thinking. She felt like she was missing something. Something that was staring her right in the face.

Damon and Stefan were arguing about who-knew-what in the other room, making it hard for her to concentrate. Those two _really_ needed to just sort out their problems already. She was suddenly glad that she had such a good relationship with Poppy and Jeremy. It would be so awful to have to live with someone that she couldn't stand.

Elena sighed, shrugged, and got up to get some Cheetos. She knew that it would come back to her eventually.

* * *

"Yes, Poppy, for some reason I doubt that..." the eldest Original said, mostly to himself. Poppy still heard this and frowned, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Can't I just go home already?" she asked.

"You aren't going home any time soon. You are the Doppelganger's sister, and you might come in handy one day... For now, we shall be staying with some friends of mine."

Poppy raised her eyebrows. "And who are your friends, mummies?" she asked sarcastically.

However, Elijah must have taken her comment seriously. "No, they are warlocks. Mummies do not exist."

At this, Poppy raised her eyebrows higher {if possible} and widened her eyes {also in a highly impossible manner}, but didn't say anything, as she followed the oldest living creature to his car. Okay, she was following the oldest vampire into his car off to some warlocks' house. Honestly, could this day get _any_ weirder?

While she couldn't think of any ways it could get stranger than it already was, she could think of many ways that it could get better. The first way, would be for Elena or really _anyone_ to save her from this annoying, so-called Original.

Just then, something caught her attention while she was stepping into the car. "Hey, you keep saying that 'Lena's some kind of 'doppelganger' or whatever... What exactly does that mean?" she asked, turning to the man who had already started the car.

"Your sister, and I suppose yourself, live in the same bloodline as others who look exactly like one another. The Petrova bloodline, to be exact. She looks like and has some of the same characteristics of the original. If you place another Petrova next to her, you would not be able to tell them apart at all." Elijah informed in his classy way. Poppy had already caught on to his ways. They were weird and old-timey, and she was definitely not accustomed to his proper way of speaking.

"Then how are Elena and I so different? We're _twins_ and we don't look anything alike. No one knows how I got my hair _or_ eyes. Why am I different?" she asked, completely curious.

"I do not know how you got your looks, Poppy. That would take me looking further into your bloodline, which is a chore that I do not have time for, at the moment." Elijah said, indifferent towards everything. Poppy looked at him and his facial expression, looking for anything that would give away any type of emotion. She didn't find anything.

"So..." she said, looking down at her hands. "Everyone I know, knows about vampires?"

Elijah sighed. Honestly, he just wanted the girl to shut up, but he didn't say anything because he knew that it would only make her talk more. "To put it simply. However, I believe that your aunt, Jenna, is not aware of the supernatural."

"Wow... So everyone else knew about it and didn't tell me. Why would they not tell me?" she asked, mostly to have a dramatic rhetorical question at the end of their conversation.

The thousand-year-old vampire, however, did not know this. "Well, probably because you're upfront, honest, say whatever is on your mind, it seems as if you cannot stop talking... It would be bound to come out eventually if you knew."

Poppy glared at him. "That's not fair. I can keep a secret... I bet that you were the most boring human ever." she said, randomly changing the subject. "I mean, you were, like, a Viking, or whatever, but I bet that you would make everyone follow the rules and never have fun. You would be, like, the most annoying person to go on a vacation with."

"Poppy, I have already told you to be quiet multiple times. I don't think that either of us would enjoy the rest of this ride if you continue speaking."

She frowned. That was rude. That was when she saw that he actually had an expression on his face, {guilt?} but then it was soon switched back to his indifference. He was like a blank canvas; it didn't make any sense. How could he just make it seem like he doesn't have any emotions? It was almost like he turned them off.

Elijah noticed her stare, and looked at her sharply. "Poppy, I think that with your human needs, it would be necessary for you to go to sleep now." he said, more like an order than a suggestion.

She frowned at him, but then made her spot in the fancy {and probably expensive} car more comfortable, before dozing off into a welcomed sleep.

What a strange day.

* * *

 _ **Hello, readers :) Nice to meet you. Hopefully, you enjoyed reading the first chapter, if in fact there is anyone who read it. If you did, please leave a review or favorite or follow. I know that this chapter was probably written quite badly, because it's only the beginning, and doesn't have many interesting things to actually happen in it, but I've already written ahead, and know exactly where this will go. So trust me, it gets better. :)**_

 _ **I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any characters mentioned from the show that are in this story. Poppy is mine, though. :) Also for future references, I do not own any other characters that I may add from different shows or films.**_

 _ **~Alissa**_


	2. Know Your Enemy

Poppy woke up to a tingle on her temple, then it began to hurt. _What the..._ she thought, opening her eyes, to see Elijah looking annoyed at her, as usual. He poked her once again, but this time on her cheek.

"Ow! Elijah... I am _not_ going to wake up like this for the rest of the time that I'm with you... However long that is..." she mumbled the last part to herself, but the eldest Original heard it and rolled his eyes. This girl still clearly had no idea who she was dealing with, or _what_ she was dealing with, for that matter.

The girl's hair, even though it was in a braid, was ruined and tangled in the back, making one large knot. When Poppy looked in the mirror, she groaned. Stupid long, thick hair. Why did it have to be so pretty, yet so difficult to manage?

"Hey, Eli do you think I could get a brush or something? And some make up remover... And some make up? I'm sort of a mess. Clothes would help too." she said. Then she began to ramble again, much to Elijah's dismay.

"Did you just call me 'Eli'?" he asked, his annoyance nearly crossing the line. Poppy just shrugged.

"About those things..."

"No."

"Elijah! I need them! I mean, you're the one who kidnapped me, I might as well look nice so that your eyes don't get soar from looking at me," she said. Honestly, she didn't care about how she looked. At least not around Elijah. When she was going to meet someone, however, {even if they were Elijah's friends} she liked to at least seem presentable.

"Quiet."

"Ugh... You are so rude. And what's with all of those one-worded answers?" Poppy asked. "I mean, you barely talk at _all._ "

"Poppy, the high-pitched sounds coming from your mouth are giving me a headache." Elijah said. Poppy glared at him. Yes, she wanted him to talk more, but she didn't want him to be _rude._

Instead of saying anything more, Poppy just gave him one last glare and leaned back in her chair. She sighed. _Well, this is boring,_ she thought. Then she moved into a different position, crossing her legs. _Yep. Definitely boring._ She uncrossed them and moved them forward. Poppy sighed again.

"Poppy." Elijah said, glaring at her. Poppy looked at him. She liked the way he said her name. She had always hated it, because it was such young-sounding name, though it was very feminine, which she liked. But, not only was it little-kid-like, but there was a very annoying girl in the fourth grade who had the same name as her, which she had always despised. His accent, however, actually made it so that her name was bearable. It sounded English, but definitely morphed as he'd traveled. Strange, yet unique in an elegant and beautiful way.

"Poppy, why are you staring at me?" Elijah asked, sounding slightly annoyed, but a little uncomfortable. Poppy looked down at her hands, realizing what she was doing.

She began unbraiding her hair and combed it out as much as she could with her fingers, until it was mostly untangled. Her pale blonde hair landed just at her waist. However, it only distracted her for a short time before she was sitting, bored again. She sighed.

"Hey, Elijah?" she asked.

"What do you want, Poppy?" he asked, sounding slightly irritated. Poppy frowned. That was rude. She decided that that was what she should expect from him now on.

"What's your favorite fruit?" she asked, truly curious. Elijah just looked at her. Poppy looked from him, to the road. _Why isn't he keeping his eyes on the road? We're going to crash if he doesn't pay attention,_ she thought anxiously to tried to ignore her worried feelings and just looked back at the thousand-year-old.

"How would this information be of any use to you?" he said to Poppy.

She shrugged. "I don't know. It will feed my curiosity."

Elijah sighed, once again. "I suppose, as a human, I enjoyed eating the berries that would grow along a river I would walk by each day."

Poppy looked at him with her big, green eyes. He could see all of the questions that they held, but he wasn't sure exactly what those questions _were._ That was something that Elijah was a little afraid to find out about himself.

"Do you like Disney movies?" Poppy asked him. He rolled his eyes. Of course she would ask that.

"I suppose that some are bearable." he said. He was then gifted with Poppy's eyes getting as big as saucers, and opening her mouth a little, clearly appalled.

"Some are _bearable_? Elijah, you clearly weren't focusing well enough, or even looked into them and what they mean." she said back, crossing her arms and looking away from him. She was actually offended by what he had said. The more she spoke to him, the crazier and weirder he sounded.

"Poppy, I don't think you are supposedto look into them." he said back, smoothly. Poppy suddenly felt the need to bang her head against a wall until she bled and died.

"Dude, I don't think you get it... What are the ones that you think are 'bearable' or whatever you said?" Poppy asked, ready to brace herself for what was sure to be a short list of movies that were sure to come.

"I enjoyed Mary Poppins. I actually got to be at the opening for it back in the mid-20th century. I also enjoyed Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. Though, the history is very off, they did quite a good job with the graphics at that time." As Elijah continued his list, Poppy was trying to picture Elijah watching Snow White. The thought made her laugh quietly to herself, which caused the thousand-year-old look her way. Then something caught her attention.

"Have you seen any of the new Disney movies?" she asked him.

"And what exactly would be in that category?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, but keeping his eyes on the road.

"You know... Tangled, Brave, Frozen... Wow, they are really starting to like the one-word-named movies lately... But I do suppose that Brave is Pixar. That whole deal is confusing." Poppy said, trailing off and going into her own mind.

Elijah glanced her way before looking back at the road. This girl really was strange.

"I have not heard of such films." he said, and apparently this was a bad thing, because he heard the girl gasp in horror.

"You have never seen Tangled?" she asked, absolutely shocked that someone could live such a way. The Original found it hard not to grimace at the sound. However, Poppy was off to the side, basically dying because of what she had just heard. Tangled was thebest movie Disney has ever made, in her honest opinion. Rapunzel had always been her favorite princess, and ever since she realized her love for the princess, she had been growing her hair. The only time she ever cut it was when she was 6 and her mom got to choose to do whatever she wanted with her young daughter. Now she only trimmed it.

"No, I have not. Care to enlighten me on what it may be about?" Elijah asked, smirking on the inside. He knew what was to come, and had already accepted that it was his fault for doing this, and knew he would regret it soon.

Poppy, however, was taking deep breaths, ready to say everything she had to about the movie, before deciding to not tell the whole story.

"You know what? I'm not going to torture you with my big speech." she said. Elijah almost sighed in relief. "Instead, I'm going to make you watch it with me." Now, Elijah almost groaned in annoyance and anger.

"If you believe that I will let some small human like you make me watch a film from Walt Disney, then you are mistaken. I am one thousand years old, and I refuse to watch a film about a princess." he said. Poppy raised her eyebrows. How was it that he managed to make the word "princess" sound classy? She immediately knew the answer to that, though. Because he was Elijah, that's how. She mentally scolded herself. Elijah could make the word "moist" sound elegant. Princess was easy for him...

"Yeah, but I am Poppy Gilbert and I have my ways." she said, smirking to herself. Elijah decided to ignore this comment, and they both were silent for most of the rest of the trip. Well, Elijah was at least. Poppy on the other hand... She couldn't do 'quiet' well...

Because of her need to talk, Poppy, of course, tried to get something out of Elijah to start a conversation, but he wouldn't say anything for close to an hour. The longest hour in both of their lives.

"Elijah..." she said, about 20 minutes before they would arrive at where ever the heck they were going.

"Why are you speaking, Poppy?" he asked {very rudely}.

"When will we be there? This is boring." Poppy said, running her hand through her hair absentmindedly.

"I have already answered this question..." he said before drowning out her complaints and looking at the road instead. This girl simply did not know how to stop talking.

"You know, there are several guys at my school who have been stalker-crushing on me that I could get to beat you up when you take me back home." she said, glaring at the thousand-something-year-old.

The comment didn't seem to intimidate the classy-as-heck man, though. In fact, what she said actually made him chuckle to himself.

"Poppy, I don't think a couple of teenage boys with a 'crush' on you will be able to defeat me. Their hearts would be out of their chests before they could blink." he said. Even though Poppy wasn't looking at him, she could hear the smirk in his voice.

"Um... Dude, more than just 'a couple' guys have a stalker-crush on me. More like ten. They literally follow me and Bonnie around the school, making themselves believe that we're 'playing hard to get.'"

The story the girl was telling was a bit exaggerated, but there were 10-15 boys who would follow them around when they felt confident enough to ask them out. Of course they would travel in separate groups, as they didn't all have the same schedule. Poppy and Bonnie enjoyed messing with them, because they were terrible teenage girls who would spend their weekends watching Being Human, Supernatural, and Gossip Girl. From the latter, they had learned basically all the secrets on how to get people to chase you around. Let's just say they used all of them.

"The point was that you should drive faster so that my Gentleman Callers don't start to worry for too long." she concluded. "Oh, right, plus Elena and Jeremy and Stefan, AKA: The coolest vamp ever even though he never even mentioned he was a vamp in the first place... Whatever, you get the point. Plus, since Damon basically chases Elena like a puppy, him too. But mostly Stefan, because Stefan."

Elijah just looked at the young woman for a moment, unsure of what to say. She definitely was one of the strangest humans he had ever met. There seemed to be a young, feminine aura surrounding her, however, that also made her elegant {in some way – which he did not know was possible} and more interesting. Of course, her curls only made her look all-the-more girlish and innocent. While she was extremely annoying and bothersome, Poppy also was charming, in a way that Elijah couldn't understand. The way she would awkwardly babble on and on when there was a silence, how she always seemed to know how to break the tension. Something about her just made him curious, and want to know more about her, even if it meant having to deal with her never-ending, babbling words.

She was definitely something else.

"Elijah," she said, pulling him out of his thoughts. He had been staring at her for quite some time. "Stop doing that. Don't stare at me, it's weird."

Elijah, being the cool Original that he was, just casually rolled his eyes at her {once again} before looking back to the road, much to Poppy's relief. Did that guy even pay attention when he got his driver's license?

A short time after this, they seemed to have arrived at their destination, which was a spacious apartment building, which looked ancient from the outside, but Poppy assumed that from what she knew of Elijah, the interior was completely modern.

Before she even got the chance to move, Elijah was already outside, holding her door open for her. She smiled at him.

"Thank you, Elijah. Quite the gentleman..." she teased him, hopping out of the car. Her legs were wobbly when she tried to stand, so she nearly fell on Elijah, but {thankfully} he helped her balance before she could fall. She smiled gratefully at him, while he helped keep her steady, while closing the car door.

"I guess my legs must have fallen asleep. Haven't used them in a while, you know..." Poppy said awkwardly, letting go of Elijah and getting used to standing up on her own.

Meanwhile, Elijah just looked annoyed, and as if he didn't have time for her awkwardness, let alone her clumsiness. Poppy was frustrated that she could see this clearly in his expression, seeing as neither of them wanted her here, and she _could_ be at home with Elena and Jeremy and Jenna. Of course she did realize that they had been lying to her for who-knows-how-long, but she decided to ignore these thoughts because if she were to choose Elijah or _them,_ she would choose them any day. That annoying vampire really had gotten into her head...

"Poppy, follow me," he said, getting her attention back to her surroundings.

"Right. Yeah, I'm coming." she said, avoiding eye contact as she turned and walked with the Original up the stairs to what was marked as the third floor of the apartment building they were in, which was actually quite a lot of steps, especially in heels.

When they finally did reach the apartment that held the 'warlocks' Elijah didn't bother to knock, and just walked in as if it were his own home. Actually, Poppy realized that it might have been partially his, seeing as it did look pretty expensive and high-end, which seemed to be his taste, when thinking back to his car.

Earlier, when Elijah had said that they were going to be staying with warlocks, she had expected some evil, warty, green guys, but that was definitely _not_ what she got. Walking into the door, she met two men, one looked to be in his late 30's, while the other looked to be her age. Both were handsome men, and not at all green, or warty. In honesty, Poppy was quite glad that they looked normal. She felt like if there was another strange thing she had to experience that day, she would lose it.

"Elijah." the older man greeted. "You're late; we were starting to worry. And I can see that you brought someone along...?"

Poppy rolled her eyes at his failed attempt at being subtle, but waved politely nonetheless.

"Yes, Jonas. Luca. This is Poppy, the Doppelganger's twin sister. She will be staying here for a while. Perhaps you can show her to a room she can stay in...?" Elijah said, as if she wasn't standing _right_ next to him. Poppy glared at him, crossing her arms.

Luca, the younger one, saw her angry expression, and stepped up to the job. "I'll do it. Come on, Poppy." he said, nodding her away from what seemed to be the living room.

As he guided her out of the room, Luca started the small-talk so that he could get to know the small girl, who clearly felt a lot of negative emotions towards her current situation.

"So... How did you manage to find Elijah?" he asked. Poppy looked up at him, clearly surprised that he wanted to hear her speak. Being stuck in that car with someone who was annoyed whenever you _breathed_ was extremely difficult for her, considering how talkative she was. She was oddly thankful for this boy.

So, she prepared herself for the story of her annoying, lying sister that led her to the annoying vampire who was currently just across the hall.

"Um... You see, my sister and I were at this masquerade ball thing, and then I was talking with her about how I totally knew she would come, even though she said she wasn't, and then we were both hit in the head, and kidnapped. Then, her two boyfriend-brothers came to save her, and ditched me with that old loon," she began. At the last sentence, she gestured to the other room that she'd been lead away from. Then she continued, "which I am definitely _not_ happy about. Not to mention that I didn't know about the supernatural world until the old bat in the other room told me."

Luca raised his eyebrows and sucked in a breath that he held in for a moment. He was really starting to understand the root of the girl's frustrations and wanted to find a way to help, but honestly wasn't sure what he could say about it. Thankfully, he didn't have to worry too much, because she was quick to continue her story.

"Oh, yeah, and my sister's boyfriend-brothers are also vampires. I have been out of the loop for I don't even _know_ how long... But anyway, Elijah the Ass thought that I might 'come in handy' whatever that means... So, he drove me here, after being annoying and rude for the whole car ride. Thank goodness I don't have to see his annoyingly great hair and sharp suit anymore. Ugh." she said, all in one breath. When she looked over at Luca, he seemed somewhat overwhelmed, but still kept his cool as he opened the door to what was Poppy's new, temporary bedroom.

"Sounds like a rough couple of days..." he said, sitting on the big, king-sized bed that was pushed up against the wall to the right of the door when you walked in.

Poppy sighed and flopped onto the bed, laying down with a thud. "It definitely was. But, I am very glad that you guys don't seem nearly as annoying as the blood-sucking douche... Honestly, I thought you were going to be as rude as him." she said, looking down at her hands, which were resting on her dress that she was still wearing. Then she smiled at her new host, saying, "But you seem all right."

Luca chuckled at her and laid back next to her. "Maybe being stuck in a car after being kidnapped isn't the best way to get to know a person." he pointed out. Poppy raised her eyebrows and turned to look at him. Maybe he was right. Plus, how could someone as freaking _attractive_ as Elijah be thisfrustrating all the time? Maybe she was just mad for being a kidnap-ee.

Poppy sighed, and changed the subject. "You know, I'm sort of happy that I don't have to face my family yet." she said quietly. "I mean, Elena liedto me, and about _so much._ And I guess that Jeremy did too, but... 'Lena is my twin. We've been together since birth. It just hurts that she would lie to me about it."

Luca frowned, not sure what to say to that. He had a sibling, and he'd been betrayed by her, but she never kept _that_ bigof a secret from him. Finally, he managed to come up with a reply.

"Well, you will have to deal with them eventually; they're your family," he said. Poppy turned her head to face him and huffed, but seemed to accept what he had to say. "Also, think of it from your sister's perspective. She was probably trying to save you from exactly this. Being caught up in the middle of it, with one of the most dangerous vampires in the world. It's sort of hard for you to be in a worse position than this." he reasoned.

Poppy was once again satisfied with his answer. He really did make good points. "Also, isn't it not just Elena who was keeping this from you, Poppy? Did you think about your friends? You don't even know what they are anymore. But, the strong thing to do would be to just face them. Don't worry about it. You're stuck with the oldest vampire ever, and you're angry at your family and friends, even though you might never see them again. I would be worrying about other things."

Poppy was completely blown away by what he had just said. Luca was completely right. About everything. "Okay, how did you even just do that?" she asked him, before laughing for absolutely no reason, other than to just laugh.

She was stuck in an apartment with two warlocks, and the oldest creature to have ever existed. The idea hadn't even seemed to register in her mind before Luca had said it, but all that it made her do was laugh. Instead of crying like she normally would, she simply laughed at the ridiculousness of it all. Elena and her getting kidnapped, a dead man coming back to life, there being such thing as vampires, there being a person who defined the word frustrating, warlocks and witches being real, finding that her friends and family had been blatantly lying to her for the last year. Instead of screaming and murdering a pillow, she just laughed until she couldn't breathe and her stomach ached.

When she finally regained herself, she noticed that Luca had left, which she was partially glad for, even if she was slightly embarrassed. What made her embarrassment sky-rocket, was when she noticed that Elijah was casually leaning against the doorway, watching Poppy as she collected herself. She immediately sat up and glared at him.

"What do you want?" she asked, sounding nicer than what she wanted. Elijah didn't seem to notice the glare she held on him as he walked further into the room, putting his hands in his pockets.

"I'm leaving for some errands and will be back before nightfall." he said.

Then, he leaned down and forced Poppy to look into his eyes before saying, "You will stay here and not leave unless granted my permission."

What? Did he really think she was going to listen to him?

"Um, excuse you. Who do you think you are? I am _so_ not taking an order from you. I do not care if you're some Original Vampire, or whatever you say you are..." she said glaring daggers at him.

Elijah sighed. _Vervain._ "Poppy, what jewelry are you wearing?" he asked her.

"Only my necklace, but you can't take that." she said. Elijah's eyes quickly found the P that was laying on her chest.

"Give it to me." he said. "I need to see it."

"No! Come on! I'll give you anything that isn't this." she said, practically begging him. He raised his eyebrows.

"Poppy, give me the necklace." he said to her, a little more gently, but only enough to make her loosen up a little.

She frowned and glared at him, with the deadliest look she could possibly manage, but took it off of her neck and the vampire snatched it from her hands.

He examined the piece of jewelry, not feeling a burning sensation from holding it, which meant that the vervain wasn't melted in the metal.

Clearly, he was taking too long, which caused Poppy to try to snatch her necklace back, but Elijah pushed her back a little, holding it away from her.

"Stop, I will give it back to you in a moment." Elijah said softly to her, which she never thought she'd hear. So, she didn't try to get up again and just watched him examine her necklace until he found what he must have been looking for.

Elijah opened up the necklace {at this point, Poppy was just wondering how she never knew that it opened} and took out the herb as quickly as possible. The vervain burned at his hand until he washed it all off with water, leaving red marks along his skin. He watched his skin heal itself before giving the necklace back to the girl who was currently looking at Elijah, seeming to have zoned out into her own world.

Once he was sure all vervain was gone, he then compelled her properly and turned to leave the room.

"Elijah?" Poppy called.

He turned around.

"I would really love it if I could perhaps get some other clothes... This dress would be really uncomfortable to sleep in, and it would be gross also, since I've been wearing it for two days..." she said to him.

Elijah sighed. "Alright, I will take you shopping later, but you should make yourself presentable before we go." he said.

Poppy rolled her eyes. "You need to learn some manners. I mean, you're proper and all, opening doors for me and stuff, but it's the actual talking that you're bad at." she said to him.

He looked at her for a moment before dropping his gaze to the floor. "Perhaps you're right. I'm afraid that now is not the time to point out my personality flaws, however. I'll see you when I get back." he said, turning away.

"Bye, Elijah." she said, watching him leave the room.

"Goodbye, Poppy." he said, just before he ran off to whatever 'errands' he had to do.

* * *

 _ **Hopefully you enjoyed that chapter, because I certainly enjoyed writing it! I'm starting to sort of show how likable Poppy is, I guess when I did that part with Luca. I thought that it would show a lot about her character, how she immediately clicked with him, as she does with most other people. Excluding Elijah, of course. But that's different, because I think that everyone's first impression of him is sort of like 'wow, chip on your shoulder much?' haha...**_

 _ **Please tell me what you thought by writing a review! Anything will help, I just like to know if people like what they are reading. Even if you don't, constructive criticism is definitely allowed, because I do want to grow in my writing in any way possible. Thank you to the feedback that I've already gotten, it really helps me as a writer!**_

 _ **~Alissa**_


	3. The Return

After Elijah left for whatever 'errands' he had to do, Poppy got up and went to a bathroom that was attached to the bedroom where she was staying. She didn't even bother looking at her reflection in the mirror, knowing that she'd look like some creepy, zombie who just went to a wild party. Even the thought of how she might look frightened her.

Poppy quickly got undressed and got in the shower, taking a very long time, as she wanted to reflect back on everything that had happened throughout those last couple of days. She had had a lot of time to do this, yet she still couldn't believe what had so suddenly had turned from a fantasy, to a reality. All of these creatures – they just used to be bedtime stories. They weren't anything more than that, until yesterday. How had she not known anything until then? How did Caroline {AKA: The worst liar ever} keep something as big as thisfrom her? Poppy realized that not all of her friends had to know... But, if they _did_ know, everything would make so much more sense... How they would sometimes all disappear without warning, and how things would suddenly "come up" that stopped them from being able to hang out with her. Also, why would Elijah bother with lying to her about everyone knowing about this? What would he gain by telling her anything but the truth?

She sighed, knowing that she was getting absolutely nowhereby thinking about things instead of actually learning more about the situation. Poppy decided that Luca was completely right, and that she had to talk with her family eventually _._ Why not just get it over with, and get all of her questions answered at the same time? She then vowed to herself that right when she got home, she would confront her friends {and Elena and Jeremy} and find out about everything that she had missed, since the very beginning of whenever all of these strange creatures came into their life.

* * *

When Elijah finally knocked on Poppy's door a couple of hours after their short conversation, she was more than ready to leave the apartment. She'd been ready to leave an hour before he had gotten there, and had been waiting for what felt like an eternity, excited to get some clothes that fit after Luca offered a sweatshirt of his, and his sister's shorts so that she didn't have to go out in her dress. Not only that, but she was also excited to go shopping to get more dresses, which was one of her favorite activities, and also one of the many things that she and Caroline did together.

While she was waiting, she got to think some more of everything that was happening. Poppy hadn't really realized how much she missed her friends until she was done getting ready. All that she was feeling before then was betrayal that they would keep the secret from her for so long. However, when she did get to thinking about it, she missed having Stefan around, hating himself, and Bonnie, glaring at the Salvatores, and Caroline, cracking jokes to break the tension, but then also glaring at Damon.

She also missed her sister. Before then, they almost never separated, so this was a huge change on both parts. Elena was a huge impact on Poppy's life, and most of the things they did, they did together, which included Miss Mystic Falls last year, going to their first dances, sharing birthdays, and all that mushy stuff. Honestly, Poppy was surprised that she hadn't been missing everyone sooner. Even Jeremy, her annoying younger brother, who she loved, even though it was nonstop bickering between the two on a daily basis.

She sighed and got up, realizing that the loon hadn't stopped knocking the whole 15 seconds that she had zoned out for. Annoying Original, thousand-year-old vampires who want your sister dead for who-knows-why, along with her boyfriend-brothers. Poppy opened the door and glared up at the man, taking in his new suit that he had gotten throughout his 'errands.'

"Poppy. We will be leaving shortly." he said in greeting. She just continued to glare at him. "Unless, of course, you would like to go now...?" he suggested as an after-thought.

Poppy nodded. "That sounds better. I've been waiting for, like, _ever._ "she said, walking past him as quickly as possible. "I mean, what were you even doing? I know you said you had 'errands' to do or whatever, but... You literally have all the timein the world to do that. Aren't you, like, indestructible or something?"

Elijah ignored all of her questions, and simply pulled her out of the apartment and to where his car was waiting in the parking lot. He opened the door for her before vamp-running to the other side to get in.

Although she found his politeness charming, Poppy glared at him before getting in the car. She knew he was the bad guy, but was it against the rules to think that the bad guy was hot? Because, if it was, then she was _so_ in trouble.

"You know, I can open my own door. And also, why are you being so nice, and simultaneously rude at the same time? How is that possible? I am so confused by you, Elijah. Like, one second you are pulling out a chair for me or something, and the next you're glaring at me and telling me to shut up... Guys do not make any sense. And I'm just saying that in general; all guys make absolutely no sense..." Poppy said, getting more comfortable in her seat and looking out the window.

"Poppy?" Elijah asked.

"Yes?"

"Quit talking."

See? This is _exactly_ what she was talking about.

"Elijah, do you remember what I said during our last conversation?" she asked him. "About your bad people-skills?"

In reply, all she got was a glare. She decided to take that as a yes.

"Well, it's still a thing you need to work on. It would probably solve a lot of your problems. At least that's what my therapist used to say. I used to have, like, _major_ anger issues when I was younger, but I sort of grew out of it, I guess... But I suppose it's a bit too late for you to grow out of it, considering you're like a _billion_ or something... What was I saying again?" Poppy rushed out. She frowned, but after a few seconds gave up on trying to remember the topic that she was talking about.

"Poppy, perhaps you can spend the rest of the car ride not speaking." Elijah said. Instead of it sounding like a suggestion, it sounded like a demand, but something in Poppy didn't want to push any more of his buttons, so she stayed as quiet as she could until they got to the local mall.

By the time they got there, she was nearly jumping in her seat from excitement. Then, she remembered that she had nomoney, at all.

They both got out of the car, one a _lot_ more excited than the other, and they walked/skipped to the entrance. Poppy took this time to voice her concerns about the money.

"Elijah?"

"What is it?" he said, as if he were some stressed father speaking to his child who wouldn't stop talking, no matter what he tried {which was actually a good way to explain the situation they were in}. Poppy rolled her eyes.

"I don't have any money. Like, at all." she said.

"I will take care of it." he said as if it were obvious. Poppy raised her eyebrows at him and smiled.

"Thank you, Elijah. That's really nice of you. See? You _are_ learning people-skills after all... I feel like I've been a good influence in some way..." she said, her happiness growing. "I mean, if Caroline knew that some guy was buying me whatever clothes I wanted at the mall without asking for anything in return, she would be here within seconds. No joke."

Elijah chuckled to himself quietly, but Poppy still heard it and perked up even more.

"Did you just laugh? At me? Wow, I really am growing on you, aren't I? I know how annoying I can be, what with all the nonstop talking, and the blabbering, and- Oh my god. We are going to Nordstrom." she said, cutting her own self off, and pulling the man with her until she got into the beautiful, huge, expensive store that both she and Caroline had come to love. She looked around, taking a deep breath and taking everything in.

Within ten minutes, Poppy already had four dresses in her hand and two belts that went along with all of them. _Yep,_ she thought, _this is living the life..._

She looked around the sections of the store before finding what she was looking for.

"Pajama sets! I need ten..." she said, looking at a pair of silk cat ones. These things were possibly the most comfortable thing that you could ever wear. Ever.

And let's just say that Poppy took complete advantage of having a rich guy pay for all of the clothes she could want.

By the time they left the mall, she had gotten five dresses, three pairs of silk pajama sets, one new pair of shoes, and the two belts from earlier. Of course she'd also gotten a few necessities, like a hair brush, makeup remover, and a toothbrush. Elijah had somehow gotten stuck carrying all of the bags, but she thought it was fair, considering that he could probably pick up the mall itself without any trouble. Also, he was the one who kidnappedher in the first place.

"Thanks for dealing with me. And buying me clothes. And carrying the bags. And not killing me," she said when they were both in the car again. "Sometimes, I know how annoying I am and sort of want to, like, hit a pressure point of something so I faint, just so that I can stop talking."

"Maybe if you wrote out your thoughts more, you wouldn't talk so much..." Elijah suggested, sounding annoyed. As usual. Poppy nodded.

"Yeah, I normally do. Only, I haven't been able to do that lately, due to an old loon kidnapping me and taking me away from my beautiful journal that I have in my bedroom, strategically hidden in a place that only me and my deceased father know of. But that's only because he had to build it in..." she explained, glaring at the 'old loon.'

Elijah looked over at her. This girl...

"I'm sorry." she said, thinking back to what she had just said. "That was rude. I shouldn't have called you that. Especially because you can, like, rip out my brains at any second if you get annoyed enough..."

"Yes, you are lucky that you are with me and not Niklaus. It would have not ended well for you." he said, looking back to the road.

"Who is Niklaus?" Poppy asked. Being out of the loop was actually starting to get extremely irritating. She knew absolutely nothing about who anyone was, or even _what_ everyone was...

"Niklaus is my younger brother. He has... quite the temper." he said stiffly. Poppy looked over at him and noticed how much his body language changed from speaking about his family. Maybe there was more to this Original vampire than she thought... Not wanting to push her luck, however, she changed the subject.

"Do you know when I'll get to go back home?" she asked.

"That depends." Elijah said, glancing her way. Poppy raised her eyebrows.

"On what?"

"On whether your friends decide whether you're worth it to find me or not, so that I can rid the Salvatores of their hearts."

Poppy's eyes became twice the size of what they previously were. "Wait, what? Listen Elijah, they would _never_ come and save me. Hell, they don't even know where I am! And of course I hope that they're missing me back home, but I'm pretty sure that Elena is just nownoticing that I haven't been home for a day and a half... I mean, she has _so much_ to deal with I'm sure, what with choosing the right guy, and taking everyone's life choices away..." she said, taking a deep breath after the last sentence. It was beginning to get harder to hold in her anger towards her friends... They were soin trouble when she got home. "Like, who gave her the right to not tell me anything? Ugh... You know, I am just now realizing how annoyingly controlling my sister is. And she has _always_ been this way..."

Poppy looked over at Elijah, who didn't seem to be paying much attention at all. She raised her eyebrows at him.

"Have you been ignoring me this whole time, Elijah?" she asked him with a piercing glare that didn't seem to faze him one bit.

"Yes, I have, Poppy. Might I ask, why does this surprise you anymore?"

She opened her mouth to reply, but then closed it, imitating a fish. He wasright. She might as well not expect anything too highly from him anymore, she assumed.

She sighed.

"Fine, Elijah. You're totally right." Poppy said.

The rest of the ride was completely silent, and it took them only a few more minutes to get back to Jonas and Luca's apartment building. To put it simply, Poppy was relieved that she didn't have to be in Elijah's company for much longer. He just made everything seem more tense and serious, which were two things that she liked to avoid the absolute most. Plus, it wasn't like she enjoyed spending some quality time with her kidnapper, who just-so-happened to be rich, nice-looking, and willing to buy her nice clothes. Because she most definitely did not. Nope. She hated it. Even if he _did_ have a jaw line that could cut glass. Absolutely not. She hated him.

Poppy sighed to herself for thinking this way about her annoying, blood-sucking, kidnapper. Did vampires just _have_ to go out and be all hot and attractive-looking? Why couldn't Elijah look as old as he was, with maybe a bunch more wrinkles, a bunch of hairy warts, and a permanently-swollen eye that stuck out? But no; she was stuck with an irritating, proper guy who would wear nothing less than a suit for any occasion. With greathair, she might add.

As she looked outside, she noticed how dark it was getting and yawned. It had been such a long day, and her mind was tired from all of the twists and turns that have been brought up, and she was ready for a nice, long sleep.

When they got back to the apartment building, Poppy gathered all of her bags and was preparing to carry all of them up the stairs to the third floor, however, Elijah stopped her.

"I can take some of those." he said, like the true gentleman he was. And Poppy hated him for it. Why did he have to be so damn charming all the time? It was really starting to get on her nerves...

So, with a glare, she handed him some of the bags, which he easily carried, while she would have been having some trouble, seeing as her entire body was tiny, and couldn't ace a P.E. class if her life depended on it. Still, her manners that she had been taught as a three-year-old came to play then, as she mumbled a small, "Thank you," and hurried up the stairs as fast as possible without seeming strange, not that she really cared, mind you.

When they got to Jonas and Luca's apartment, Poppy snatched all of the bags from Elijah and went to the room where she was staying before changing into one of the pajama sets and she quickly brushed her teeth – and then collapsed on the bed. However, she didn't get much time to rest, before she heard a knock on the door.

"What is it?" she asked, forcing herself to not sound frustrated. It had been a very long day, and she was ready more than anything to get her beauty sleep, but of course she would have to hold off for whoever it was knocking.

Elijah cracked the door open a smidge. "I only wanted to say good night. Feel free to roam the pantry in the morning. I likely won't be here, but Jonas or Luca will be willing to help you with anything you need," he said kindly.

Poppy was almost too tired to notice his very sudden change in attitude, but not quite. "You're being really nice. It's weird," she said, frowning at him.

He rolled his eyes. "Good night, Poppy."

"'Night Elijah."

Then, she curled into {what she hoped was} her temporary bed and fell asleep the moment she closed her eyes.

* * *

In the morning, Poppy woke up happy to change into one of her new dresses, then went and had breakfast with the father and son that were kindly hosting their apartment to her. Light chatter was made, and neither pushed her to say anything she didn't want to, and she followed in their lead. No talk of vampires, werewolves, or anything supernatural.

After breakfast, she went back to the room she was staying in and laid down, staring at the ceiling. She didn't have much to do, and thinking about her sister seemed to be a hobby that she kept going back to.

Her thoughts were disrupted, however, but knocking a few minutes later.

"What do you want?" Poppy asked whoever was standing outside her door. She really didn't feel like she had the patience to deal with... people right now.

"Poppy, you will be coming with me to run some more errands." Elijah said, ignoring her snappy tone.

"Ugh... Why do _I_ have to go? Can't I just stay here?" she asked him, not wanting to be around him currently.

"If you would rather be here, than your home, you are welcome to stay, however I doubt that is the case." Elijah said, like the bad-ass he was.

Poppy cursed to herself. Of course he just hadto take her home _now,_ when she could hardly look at him without wanting to punch him in the face. Well, okay, she didn't really want to punch him in the _face..._ More like in the stomach region. His face was too beautiful to destroy. Wait- Okay, what was wrongwith her? If she was going to stay strong, she needed to at least be able to control herself.

Poppy sighed and got up. This man was so confusing...

* * *

Before she got to go home, Elijah made a quick detour, to what looked like a small coffee shop. Poppy was about to ask him what they were doing there, when she saw the annoying, full-of-himself, Damon Salvatore. Justthe person she wanted to see. Ugh.

Poppy looked over to Elijah, who also looked to Damon with the same amount of dislike on his features. She was glad that she, Caroline, and Bonnie weren't the only people in human history to see past all of that stupid guy's charm and arrogance. Even if that person wasElijah Mikaelson...

"Follow me." Elijah said, getting out of the car.

There seemed to be a war that was happening currently. In the mind of Poppy Gilbert, that is. Should she follow him, and most likely see Damon get killed in the coolest way imaginable, but after following Elijah's orders? Or should she ignore the Original vampire, just to annoy him, and risk the chance of not seeing Damon get destroyed?

Decisions, decisions.

Without another thought, Poppy hopped out of the car, practically bouncing on the balls on her feet in excitement. She really hoped that this was what she thought it was. The inevitable doom of Damon Salvatore, annoying vampire, who was obviously in love with Elena Gilbert, and was also ruining Stefan's only chances of happiness. Asshole.

Poppy skipped over to where Elijah stood, taking something out of his pocket. Seeing as she was wearing her new shoes {red velvet heals}, she didn't have to stand on her tip-toes to see what he took out. A hundred-dollar bill. Of course he would be carrying hundreds in his pocket. Duh. This was Elijahfor crying out loud. _Rich people,_ Poppy thought to herself, glaring at him for a moment before turning her angry look over to Damon again.

Elijah walked over to a street-performer and gave him the hundred, before scooping up a handful of coins. The blonde curiously walked over to him, peaking over his shoulder. Why would he need spare change? And why was he looking at Damon and the people he was sitting with, with such a weird and creepy expression?

She held all of her questions in though, knowing that if she spoke it would make everything a lot less dramatic than Elijah probably wanted it to be.

However, Poppy didn't have much time to think about this, because just a second later, Elijah made a small, swift movement with his arm and threw all of the coins at the coffee shop, shattering all of the windows. Her eyes widened as she saw that the people who Damon was with start to burn and blister from the sunlight. In fact, the sight she saw in front of her made her smile. That was _so cool._ The only thing that could make it better, would be if Damon was effected by it. This made Poppy frown. Why wasn't he burning to a crisp like his friends?

She turned to ask Elijah this question, but when she did, he was already walking back to the car as if nothing had happened.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down." Poppy said, still trying to understand what had just happened. "Elijah! Stop walking so fast! Ugh. Did my legs just have to be this short?"

"Get in the car, Poppy." Elijah said, rolling his eyes at her.

"Fine, I will, but..." She climbed into the car and closed the door. "That was one of the coolest things I have ever seen in my life. Like, _ever._ I mean, you hardly put any effort into that throw and, like..." Poppy ran out of words to say, and ran her hand through her hair. She looked to her left to see Elijah glaring at her, while still starting the car. After a second, she noticed what she was doing. "Oh! Sorry, I'm totally talking nonstop right now. I should really not. Sorry. I'll stop."

All she got in return was a look in her direction. Surprisingly for him, Elijah was starting to actually warm up to Poppy. Even if she may be annoying, talkative, and frustrating at times, she was also very intriguing and interesting. Elijah did have to admit that she was getting better. He didn't know if it was her attitude changing, or if he was just getting used to her strange personality, but he didn't feel as irritated to be in her presence, as he had two days before. That was, until she talked nonstop for thirty minutes, all in an awkward blab of information that he couldn't care less of.

They were about ten minutes from Mystic Falls when Poppy remembered something.

"Hey, Elijah?" she asked him. He just looked over at her to show that he was listening. "How did Damon not burn from the sunlight when his two vampire friends did? And how do you not burn in the sun? Is that some sort of Original thing? Oh... Wait, no Damon isn't an Original. At least I don't think he is..."

Completely ignoring the last part of her question, Elijah answered her. "I assume that the Salvatores had gotten a witch to perform a spell, which would then allow them to roam freely in the daylight." he said casually.

Poppy seemed satisfied with his answer, and she quieted down again, until she was, at long last, home. She got out of the car as quickly as possible, taking her dresses and pajama sets that she had gotten with her.

Turning to the Original vampire, who had also climbed out of the car, Poppy looked up at him. "Well, I guess this is goodbye, Elijah." she said, smiling at him. "Surprisingly, this is a bit harder than I expected it to be. I mean, you bought me clothes, you drove me around, you listened to my never-ending babble, you didn't kill me... You deserve an award. Not only that, but you nearly killed Damon Salvatore."

Elijah gave her a small smile, before saying one last, "Goodbye, Poppy," and walking back to his car.

"Bye, Elijah!" she shouted, right before he closed the door and drove away.

After his car was out of sight, Poppy skipped up the steps of her house, and entered it. _Finally._ She was finally home.

* * *

 _ **Poppy's home now! I'm both excited, and a bit sad at the same time. Excited, because this story is actually moving forward, and sad, because Elijah won't be there with Poppy every second of the story anymore...**_

 _ **I have yet to decide a celebrity look-alike for Poppy… No one that I know of is quite right, but if you have any suggestions, write in the reviews or who you think would make a good Poppy! Feedback is more than welcome, as well. :)**_

 _ **~Alissa**_


	4. Catching Up

The first thing that Poppy did when she got into her house, was go straight upstairs to her room, where her kitten had been waiting for those long two days.

"Aurora! My beautiful living creature!" she said, half-running over to the small, fluffy, gray munchkin cat, with her bright blue eyes. "You must be so hungry _._ Gosh, I have missed your beautiful fluffiness..."

The kitten meowed in response, which caused Poppy to giggle girlishly at the animal and put her down before feeding her. _Gross,_ Poppy thought as she gave the cat the nasty, wet, fishy food. She herself didn't eat meat, but she thought that it was necessary for her cat to have a normal, healthy diet, as did her Aunt Jenna who had bought the cat for her in the first place. Aurora had been a gift to help take her mind off of her parents' death, and she had certainly done the trick. Of course it had only been a month ago or so that she had gotten her, which meant that she had lived without her parents for a while before her cat, but she was still extremely grateful. Before her, she had only Netflix and school to keep her busy, the latter being incredibly boring, but necessary. She had drowned herself in her studies and cheer leading.

After Aurora was all fed and taken care of, Poppy got up and went downstairs again to see if anyone was home. The first person she saw when she entered the kitchen was Jenna, which Poppy was thankful for. She wasn't quite sure yet if she was ready to face Elena right now. Elena wasn't exactly a topic she wanted to think about at the moment, so Poppy pushed all thoughts of her sister to the back of her mind and ran over to hug her aunt.

"Aunt Jenna!" she squealed into her aunt {okay, more like friend}.

Poppy was met, however, with a very confused aunt. "Whoa, Poppy. Why are you so huggy?" she said, but she still smiled at her weird niece. "I mean, I know I'm great, but you couldn't have missed me _that_ much. It's been two days."

The blonde frowned for a moment, not understanding, but then she remembered. Aunt Jenna didn't know. Annoying Elena must have covered for Annoying Elijah. Poppy fixed her expression so it didn't seem surprised, and instead showed her normal, sarcastic face.

"Oh, ya know. Spending even one night without you is absolute torture for me, both emotionally, and physically. You can only imagine what it was like for _two._ I stayed up for hours last night, just thinking about getting back home to you so that we could watch that episode of Pretty Little Liars that we missed this week..." Poppy said with a small smirk playing on her face.

Jenna's eyes lit up from that small comment. "Yes! We have to watch that, like, right now. Poppy, you get the popcorn and chocolate, I will start it," she said, moving from where she was standing in the kitchen right away to the living room.

Poppy laughed to herself at her aunt's enthusiasm. It was times like these that she remembered how young her aunt was. She was only 25, yet she still had to act responsible enough to take care of three teenagers; when Poppy first heard this, she was half excited, half surprised. Jenna had always been like another sister... Only one that she didn't fight with as much, who liked to watch Supernatural and fangirl about how freaking hot the Winchester brothers are, along with the beautiful angel who was Castiel. She couldn't do that with Elena. That strange girl didn't like Supernatural. Such a weirdo.

Back to her point, however, Jenna barely had anything to worry about other than getting through college and getting a good, well-rounded job. Now she had three {well, four if you counted the cat} mouths to feed, plus her own. Poppy couldn't imagine the huge change in her life that Jenna had to make to be there for them, which was why she spent as much time with her aunt as possible, trying to make up for all of the experiences she was losing from knitting together their make-shift family.

By the time she was done with all of her thoughts, the popcorn was done, and she was sitting on the couch, ready to watch Pretty Little Liars {AKA: That Dramatic Show That Includes Hanna Eating Non-Stop And Making Funny Remarks Every 5 Seconds... And Then All The Other Stuff}. She and Jenna gasped along with the four girls as they went along the track of finding out who 'A' was. Poppy had to admit, this episode was especially surprising. She was sure that Jenna agreed.

"Oh my god, I needed some more drama in my life." Poppy said with a smile, as she shoved another handful of popcorn in her mouth.

"Yep, I know how you feel. I've been going through withdrawals." Jenna said with the same look on her face. "I don't think I can wait until next Tuesday..."

"Same he-"

Poppy was cut off by the door opening. She got up immediately, somehow knowing that it was her sister who had come in.

Sure enough, when she turned the corner, Poppy found her twin. She didn't wait for even a second, to run and tackle her sister with a hug.

"'Lena! Oh my gosh! You have _no clue_ what I've been through these last two days. I'll have to tell you later. Elijah told me everything." she said it all so fast that Elena could hardly keep track.

"Whoa, whoa. Slow down, Poppy." Elena said, peeling her twin off of her body. She whispered the next part. "Jenna doesn't know. You have to be quiet. Let's go upstairs."

"Okay." Poppy said. "Sorry, Jenna! Sister talk is happening. You aren't invited!" she yelled before she closed Elena's door behind her.

Elena rolled her eyes at her sister. Although she had been gone with a psychopath, it didn't seem to change her personality very much. That wasn't exactly the only thing she was worrying about, however...

Right when they got into the room, Poppy made her sister sit down on Elena's bed so that she could be given a proper 'talking to' as they would say it back in... whenever. Poppy prepared her speech, while Elena was preparing to get yelled at, and told some words that she knew she deserved.

"Elena Marie Gilbert!" Poppy said, her eyes blazing with anger. She noticed her sister's grimace, but she ignored the guilt that was swelling inside of her. This pansycake was lyingto her for who even knewhow long! That was all she had to think, to let out all of her emotions through several non-thought-out words.

"How _dare_ you keep something so big from me! And also, you left me _behind?_ While your boyfriend-brothers went and rode you out into the sunset?" Poppy said, walking closer to her sister with every word. In all honesty, Elena was surprised that her sister had been so... blunt. She definitely didn't expect her to actually hit such a sore subject, right on point, in such a casual way that would make her wince even five years in the future.

"Listen, Poppy. It was for-"

"What? My own good?" Poppy cut her off. "How longexactly have you kept this from me? And does everyone else know, except for Jenna? Whydid you keep this from me? I mean, if you had just told me, instead of me having to find out from a freaking dead guy pulling out a stake in his heart, maybe I wouldn't have been so incrediblyangry right now. But it seems as if that isn't the case. And I had to spend two days with a freaking _Original vampire._ Hell, apparently, I've been spending time with vampires for who knows how long _._ I deserve answers, 'Lena. You can't keep things like this from me."

Poppy felt refreshed after her small rant to her sister. It definitely felt good to let out all of those emotions. Elena, however, felt quite the opposite. While her sister was feeling light and content inside, Elena felt as if a huge weight was put to her chest. Suddenly, she couldn't breathe as well as she could before.

She had been trying to protect her. That was all that she ever wanted from all of this. Instead, her sister was kidnapped, not having a clue what was happening, by one of the most dangerous creatures to had ever existed. And it was all her fault that she had even beenkidnapped in the first place. As the list goes on, Elena just felt worse and worse from keeping this secret from her and Jenna. All that she ever wanted was for them to be safe, but it was basically impossible in the small town of Mystic Falls.

"Poppy, hear me out, okay?" Elena said, looking at her sister. Poppy stubbornly crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows, but allowed Elena to continue. "I didn't know when, or how to tell you. Everything happened so suddenly, and before I even knew it, I was stuck in the middle of all this drama, and... I just didn't want you or Jenna or Jeremy to get caught in the middle of it. Unfortunately, though, Jeremy found out about a year ago... When he found out, so many terrible things happened to him. We agreed that we didn't want you to get hurt, so we have just sort of been... keeping it from you since then."

While she didn't want to admit it, Elena did have a point. It would sort of be an awkward thing to randomly bring up in a conversation, and Poppy probably would have freaked out, or spilled the beans to one of her friends outside of the Scooby-Gang. She also had to admit to herself that the expression on Elena's face was nothing if not sincere, so there was no way she was lying about the troubles she had been through. Maybe it was time for her to just forgive, but not forget... That would be the mature thing to do, at least. Of course mature wasn't always her style, however... Decisions, decisions.

"Elena, I will – for the moment – forgive you. However, our relationship will never be how it was before." Poppy said, sighing and looking at her sister. "We used to be able to trust each other with anything, but now... You liedto me. For a very long time, about a very serious thing. It will take me a while to actually get used to trusting you again. So, this means that you and your little Scooby-Gang will have to include me in all of your plans, or else I will actually hold a grudge on you, Jeremy, and Damon. Not Stefan, though, because Stefan is great. I mean, how is this even a decision you have to make? Weirdo..."

With that, Poppy left the room before Elena could say anything else, and went to her own bedroom. She closed the door behind her, leaned on it and sighed, closing her eyes. That was a very confrontational conversation, which she wasn't used to in this family. Normally, she would only yell an eighth of what she actually felt, and think about how it could have gone differently later. As she thought about it, though, she made a very good argument for being put out on the spot like that...

"Miss Gilbert, it seems as if you are very bad at holding a grudge."

Poppy's eyes flew open at the sound of the stupid thousand-year-old's comment. How the heck did she not even notice he was in here?!

She saw him leaning casually against her desk that held all of her homework that she had yet to do. The sight of him almost made her groan in frustration. Why the heck couldn't he just leave her alone for a _day_?

"Look, dude, did you miss me or something? It literally hasn't been 5 hours yet... Why are you even here?" Poppy asked him, her nose wrinkling, just thinking about having to have another conversation with him. On the other hand, he wasa sight for sore eyes... A sight that she had seen _just a couple hours ago._

"Poppy, I do not enjoy speaking with you, just as much as you dislike speaking with me. Jonas, however, felt an unknown power in your necklace earlier, and is now curious. Frankly, I am as well interested in what else it may possibly hold." Elijah said, all the while walking towards Poppy. They were now almost nose to nose, which disgusted Poppy in some ways, but also turned her on in others. She had to admit it, this guy was _hot._ This didn't seem to change the fact that he was trying to steal _her_ necklace, however. Asshole.

"What? No way! I have had this necklace for, like, _ever._ The only time I've ever taken it off was earlier today, when you made me. And you are notgoing to make me take it off again." Poppy said, crossing her arms and glaring up at the vampire.

Elijah rolled his eyes. Poppy clearly still did not understand that he could take her life in less than a thousandth of a second. However, it was evident that she would not give up, so he decided to go the easy way. Just take it from her neck.

When he tried to use the clasp, however, it burned his hand, with an even worse sensation than vervain. Yes, something was definitely happening with this strange object...

Poppy felt triumphant when he pulled his hand away, and smirked at him. It was funny to see him in pain, even if it was a very rare thing to happen. Stupid vampire...

"Yes! I don't even know what the heck hurt you, or how it did, but I'm just going to enjoy this while it lasts..." she said, now attempting to do a happy dance.

"Poppy, take off your necklace." Elijah said, now feeling exasperated, and a little bit annoyed with the strange teenage girl in front of him. She stopped dancing and glared up at him.

"Now, why the hell would I do that? I mean, you have been nothing but annoying and an inconvenience since I met you. You were the one who kidnapped me, remember? Do you think I'm just going to go around giving you favors?"

Elijah must have expected her to say this, because the next thing she knew, she felt something pulling hard on her neck.

"Ow! Shit, that really hurts!" she said, feeling her skin start to give in. "ELIJAH! Stop before you freaking draw blood! You can't take it off, okay? Get over it!"

Elijah nearly growled in frustration. What was different about this girl? What was the importance of this necklace, and why couldn't he take it off? It should have at least snapped under his pull...

"Listen, maybe if you asked nicelyI would give it to you, dammit." Poppy spit out, glaring at him. "However, it seems as if that was not the case. So good luck finding out what my necklace is, Eli."

At this remark, Elijah could hardly contain his temper, which was strange for him, considering how he was always the most reasonable of his siblings. It seemed as if, however, this small blonde human brought out the worst in him. And it was beginning to make him angrier than he would normally bother.

Another thing that was troubling him, was why this girl was so attached to her necklace in the first place. When he had asked to take it from her earlier, Poppy acted as if he were asking to kill her sister. What was her sentiment towards this {maybe not-so} mundane object? Of course he knew that her deceased father had given her the necklace as a gift, which could cause some need to keep in contact with the necklace, but the way she looked at him when he asked, was... unusual. Even for this unpredictable teenage girl.

"Poppy!" Elena's voice rang from just outside the room.

Poppy glared at Elijah, in a way that clearly showed that she was asking him to leave. Elijah, however, had learned to enjoy pushing this girl's buttons.

This being said, he found it to be a good idea to answer the door for Poppy, so she wouldn't have to go through the trouble of answering it herself. Well, that was at least his own twisted way of thinking about it...

"Elena. Nice to meet with you again..." he said, in his classy way.

The blonde walked up behind him and pushed him out of the doorway {well, she pushed him a little, and he chose to actually allow her to do something that she wanted and moved out of the way for her} to see her sister properly.

When she could, Poppy saw Elena gasping for breath in an incredibly dramatic way, which she found to be unnecessary, but whatever... As she was thinking about how weird her sister was being, Elena was backing up into the wall in their hallway, putting as much distance between the Original and herself, which wasn't very hard to do, because he had moved himself back to the other side of the room after Poppy had pushed him aside.

"Elena! Sorry about the douche-y vampire who is currently in my bedroom. I mean, if I got to make my own decisions, he would probably be shipped out to the galaxy of Andromeda, just so that I wouldn't have to _ever see him again._ " Poppy said, the last part clearly pointed towards the thousand-year-old who was searching through her things.

"Dammit! Elijah, could you leave or something? Elena's having a freaking panic attack. And stop looking through my things. You're acting like an immature teenager, not a freaking Original."

Elijah sighed. He did realize that his actions were beginning to look like Kol's, much to his dismay... While this did annoy him, it did make him remember his purpose for being in Mystic Falls in the first place. He had to remember about the true importance of this small town, and what was surly going to take place in the next few weeks.

Turning his mind back to the current situation, Elijah put down one of Poppy's school journals and walked back over to the door in his swagger-like way, placing his hands in his pockets.

"Poppy, meet me at the Grill later tonight. We still do have things to discuss. Until then, stay out of trouble and don't get killed." he said before vamp-running out of the room, with his normal Elijah classiness.

Once he was gone, it was as if a weight had been lifted off of both girls' shoulders. One, because she didn't have anything to fear that was standing 10 feet away from her. The other, because she couldn't handle being around such an annoying, yet stunningly attractive man for long periods of time.

"Wow..." Elena said, looking over at Poppy, who was also a bit disoriented. "You're so... casual with him. It's like he's just another annoying boy who's chasing you around at school or something."

Poppy shrugged at that comment. "Well, I guess you get used to having a thousand-year-old standing in front of you after a couple days. But honestly, I don't really care about that. Especially when I've apparently been hanging out with all of my vampire and witch friends for how long, exactly?"

The brunette sighed. Of course she had to bring it up again... "It's been about a year. Ever since junior year when Stefan and Damon came into town. That's when Bonnie found out she was a witch, and then a little while later, Care became a vampire."

The last piece of news was clearly unknown information to Poppy, because her eyes widened and she pulled Elena with her to her window seat.

"Um... I guess we still have a lot to talk about." Poppy said, looking her sister in the eyes as they both got comfortable in their seat.

"Spill."

* * *

 _ **Hopefully you guys enjoyed that chapter. There was still some Elijah-Time in there, and there will be some as well in the next chapter. I think next chapter is where I will make their friendship-ish-thing start, because I sorta want to get this show on the road, if you know what I mean.**_

 _ **I really hope that you enjoy reading Poppy's character and personality. Honestly, the hardest part about writing this is figuring out the titles of the chapters…**_

 _ **So that's that! Please review, and say what you enjoyed about this chapter, or what you disliked, because I am more than able to change my writing to make it better! This story has gotten so much feedback through favorites and follows, which I'm so happy with, so thank you to everyone who has done that!**_

 _ **Until next time!**_

 _ **~Alissa**_


	5. Making Friends

The two girls sat in Poppy's room, both feeling refreshed and new, now that they had let out the truth, or in Poppy's case, gotten the truth.

"Thanks for telling me, finally." Poppy teased, smirking at her sister. Elena rolled her eyes.

"You know that it was only to protect you. Think about it. Everyone who was in on this has gotten seriously injured within at least the past month. It's a very dangerous thing that's happening to us, Poppy, and I will never regret not telling you." Elena said with a very sincere look on her face.

Poppy knew the drill however, and stopped her sister before she could say any more. "'Lena, I've got it. It's totally fine and you don't have to apologize. Seriously, I w-"

Her sentence was cut off by a twinkling sound, meaning that someone was calling her.

"Just a sec..." she said, getting her phone out of her pocket. No caller I.D. That's weird... She answered it. "Hello?"

"Meet me at the Grill in 45 minutes."

"Elijahhhhh no. I don't want to leave. I, like, just got home _._ This is so not what you promised." she said, groaning. At this, the size of Elena's eyes doubled and she scooted closer to Poppy, listening to the conversation. Both Poppy and Elena knew that he had probably heard the older sister's movements, but they ignored that fact as Elijah continued speaking.

"Poppy, you do realize that I am one thousand years old, know where you live, and can come inside your home at any moment that I please, yes?" he replied smoothly, as he always did. Why did he have to be so impossibly charming? Also, _how_?

"Ugh! Fine, jeez. See you then, I guess. Sometimes I wish that you weren't obsessed with me or whatever this is..." she said, exasperated. "Just don't argue with me while we're there, because this was your idea in the first place, and I don't deserve to have to suffer from your anger going towards me. But it would totally be a _huge_ plus if you either decided to kill Damon again, ripped guys' hearts out, or decapitated someone – those last ones are actually things that I have never seen you do, but I thought that it might look cool."

"Poppy."

"Right. Yes. Babbling. Sorry about that." she said, giggling awkwardly. The look on Elena's face seemed to get more and more judgmental as the conversation went on. Poppy rolled her eyes. "Okay, Elijah. I've gotta go because Elena's giving me those big, doe-like, but judgmental eyes, once again."

"Oh, yes. Tell Elena that our deal is still on, so she has nothing to worry about. She does not need to worry of you any further, especially when there is a man out and around whom is far more dangerous than myself."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, Eli. I've really gotta go... do... stuff." Poppy said awkwardly before shaking her head. "Right, so bye. See you."

"Goodbye, Poppy."

Poppy was the first to hang up, and she got up quickly, getting ready to change into something that says 'I don't care' but at the same time 'I think you're hot even though I'm pretending I don't care but I actually sort of do'.

This seemed to confuse Elena, because she got up from her seat.

"Um... Why exactly are you changing your outfitfor this guy? I mean, I know you love clothes, but you normally just stick with one outfit for the whole day unless there's a fancy event," she said curiously. Poppy just rolled her eyes.

"'Lena, why can't I ever dress up? I feel like I only ever wear dresses to funerals these days..."

"Okay, Poppy. That is _such_ a lie." Elena said, smiling at her twin. Her smile began to disappear just a moment later. "Wait a second... Poppy. Give me a serious answer with this, okay? Do you _like_ Elijah? As in, the Original Vampire, Elijah?"

At first, Poppy was surprised at how upfront Elena had been. Second, Poppy had to question her entire last couple of days. Of course he was hot. Very, very attractive. Not only that, but she also knew that he was loyal. He kept all of his secrets, all of his deals... He was very proper and gentlemanly, which showed that he had impeccable manners, unlike any boys from stupid Mystic Falls High. He was very tall. About 5'11, which was 8 inches taller than Poppy. _Huge_ plus. Not to mention his jawline that could easily cut glass… Come to think of it, that a lot of things that she could list off in the split second in between the question and the answer. That seemed to be answer enough for her.

"Um..." Poppy said, answering Elena's question.

"Oh my god! Seriously? The one time you like a guy, he _just so happens_ to be an Original vampire?" Elena said, running her hand through her hair. "Poppy... I'm not going to really say anything judgmental because I already know how you feel about me and Stefan and Damon and everything, but... You really do have an unfortunate taste in men."

Poppy rolled her eyes. "Says the girl who thinks that she might like Damon freaking Salvatore... Do younot remember what he did to Caroline? Like, come on, Elena. Think about our friends. Think about _Stefan._ Oh, my beautiful, flawless man friend would bedestroyed if anything were to happen with you and Damon. Stefan's my best friend, and not only that, but he's quite possibly the coolest person on the planet! Never choose stupid Damon, when you can have Stefan."

Elena seemed a bit hesitant before answering.

"While even you must admit that your speech is abitbiased, I do understand where you're coming from, Poppy." Elena said, smiling at her sister. "But seriously, if your little thing with Elijah messes up any of our plans to take down any of the threats that come here... this will turn into a problem for all of us. Just, don't let it turn into something that means more to you that your own family."

Poppy sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "Okay, yeah. We'll just have to figure it out as everything goes along. I mean, I don't even know how I like him, because he's freaking annoying and everything, but... Something about him is so honorable and trustworthy, that it's just hard to not like him... You know what I mean? Of course not _that_ kind of like, it's just that I've also noticed how he's also just a little bit ridiculously attractive, plus he's better than all of the guys at our school. Except for Stefan, of course. But he's yours. And my best friend, so that would be weird, but that's off topic. Whatever. You probably don't want to talk about this anyway. I mean, he is an Original vampire, after all..." she said, sighing again. Her sister would never understand her. Not really. Not in the way that she needs for her to understand.

This time seemed to be an exception, however.

"No Poppy, it's totally fine. Elijah's actually helping me with something, so it's okay that you like him. Anyway, I've been waiting _years_ for you to think that any guy less than Nate Archibald was good enough for you. I'm ready to have actual girl-talk about a real life, possible boyfriend." Elena said, chuckling as Poppy's face got red while she was looking around for something nice to wear.

"Whoa, there, sister. No one said anything about _boyfriend._ Sure, he's nice to look at, and sure he can be good enough company. Boyfriend, though is a bit over the top. Especially since I've just started thinking that I _may_ like him. But it's just a small crush. No biggy. We're kool over here. And that's kool with a 'k' not cool with a 'c' because we're just that kool, sis. Slow your role a bit." Poppy said, all in an extremely awkward way. "Okay, I'm done. But seriously, don't freak out, Elena. I just need to get to know him, and make sure that he isn't some psychopathic killer, like most vampires are. I mean, it's okay if he drinks human blood, because that's the way that their bodies work, and it would just be rude to take that away from them, but you know..."

Poppy knew that at some point, Elena had made Stefan or Damon stop their eating habits for her, which was why she ended the sentence openly. She wasn't told this from her sister, but she just assumed, from knowing her throughout her whole life. Elena wouldn't let someone hurt an innocent human being, even if their diet depended on it... Poppy, however, would be fine with it, as long as they let the human live, and made sure they weren't in pain after they left. Comparing that with her sister's way of things, she was actually letting everyone off extremely easily.

"Well," Elena said awkwardly, rubbing her hands down her jeans, as if to wipe them off. "I'm sure that you have to get ready, so I'll see you later." she said, smiling tensely at her. Poppy returned the smile, and then went back to outfit picking.

 _Obviously, I'd wear a dress... Are there any circumstances where I don't anymore? The real decision was picking out which one. Adorable, yet casual, yet sort of trying, while making sure it looks effortless... What to wear, what to wear._

After about 15 minutes, Poppy managed to find the perfect dress that seemed to fit all of the criteria needed. She ended up sticking with a cute, 50's style dark green dress that flared out a bit at her hips and a boat neck cut, and some white heels to go along with that. So basically, it was what you would probably be able to find the blonde wearing on a school day, but this particular dress was too short for the dress code, because it would be "too distracting for boys" if she wore it. Oh, yeah? Well, how about they treated them _manners,_ instead of making the girls _suffer_ for their immaturity? What about that? She was going out to see Elijah wearing it, and _he_ wouldn't be distracted at _all._ Why couldn't all the boys from school just learn from him? And Stefan, of course, because he's perfect, but Elijah's clear modesty would rub off more on the douches at her school than Stefan's charms and good clothing choices.

She shook her head, trying to get back to what she was doing. Poppy checked her clock. She should be at the Grill in 15 minutes.

The young blonde headed out the door after quickly applying some mascara and blush, just so that she didn't look so dead and pale. Entering the Grill, it was clear of any attractive, one-thousand-year-old, annoying-but-kind vampires, so she chose the table that was reserved for her family, as they had been eating there for forever. Because they were one of the founding families, they actually had probably been eating there since the restaurant began, whenever that was...

Just as the clock struck 3:30, the scheduled time that they had decided on, Elijah showed up, and sat directly across from her. He looked dapper, as usual, wearing his fancy suit, with his hair looking all... well-done. Poppy smiled up at him, trying to make it look forced, but knowing all the while that it was genuine.

"Hello, Poppy. We have some matters to discuss," he said to her, as he was skimming the menu. She raised one eyebrow {a challenge that she had always been proud for completing} and looked at him curiously.

"And what might those matters be?" she asked, smirking to herself when she noticed how proper she sounded. Maybe his way of speaking was rubbing off on her or something.

Before he could answer her question, their server came over and they ordered their meals before getting down to 'business', though Poppy doubted that serious business could happen while she was eating macaroni and cheese. Poppy soon realized, however, that Elijah could practically make any situation be serious, even if they were talking about reviews for the Disney Channel hit, High School Musical, he would manage to make it sound like a real situation. She rolled her eyes, which caused Elijah to be confused, and wonder what exactly was happening in her internal dialogue.

"So, what's the deal?" she asked, smirking at him.

Elijah cleared his throat and began speaking. "It has to do with the necklace."

Poppy was immediately done with the conversation, and showed him that she was with a groan and an annoyed look on her face. "Dude, I'm not giving you my frigging necklace. It's _mine._ I've removed it from my neck just this week alone, more than I have in five years. I don't want to leave it in a vampire's hands! Yes, you may have proven yourself to be, I don't know... Honest, loyal, and trustworthy, but... I still don't want to lose it. If I did, it would feel like I'm missing something, and I don't want that." she said, frowning down at the table. She didn't want Elijah to take it, at all. Something about it leaving her just felt wrong.

"Poppy. Stop speaking." he said impatiently. This girl was really testing him, but he found that, for some reason, he didn't really mind. "You don't have to give me the necklace if you do not wish to, but it would be much appreciated if you were to instead visit Jonas, so that he can take a look at it."

The blonde looked at him for a moment, unsure of exactly what to think about this offer. She had just gotten home, and she didn't want to leave, but also... Poppy was sort of curious as to what the necklace was, and why it had been spazzing when Elijah tried to take it off of her neck. Plus, she was sure that Elijah could, and would, wait for her to come, if she did decide to say yes, and go back to Jonas and Luca's small apartment where she could reunite with her friend who had helped her a lot with processing all of the information that she'd been given lately. Perhaps this could help her, more than it would inconvenience her...

"Ugh! Fine, Elijah. You broke me. I'll go with you. When do you want me?" she asked, practically throwing her hands up in the air, to show her defeat. Elijah smirked in amusement at her frustration, but said nothing, except to respond to her question.

"I shall arrive at your school tomorrow, just after it has ended, and I will take you straight there. And I would suggest not wearing heels, seeing as the stairs were too much for you to handle last time, I am certain that tomorrow will be no different. Bring nothing but yourself and the necklace, both preferably in one piece." he said smoothly, as he usually did, before standing up.

"Um, no. Hold up, mister. You promised a meal today. Not some small meeting, where all that we do is talk about my stupid and unimportant necklace." Poppy said, smirking at him. The look was strange on her, because of her innocent disposition, but she enjoyed it none-the-less. She thought that the look added a bit of 'spunk' to her plain, boring face. At least in her opinion. "So tell me, Mr. Mikaelson. What is your deepest, darkest secret?"

Elijah was taken aback by the young girl's comments, but sat back down, due to his curiosity kicking in. What held him back, he wasn't sure, but something about this girl sitting in front of him compelled him to stay.

"Poppy, what would you like to discuss?" he asked her politely, looking into her eyes intensely as she thought of something to say.

"Okay, let's start with the basics... When's your birthday?" Poppy asked.

Elijah nearly smiled at her simple and ridiculous question, but he answered, none-the-less. "I was born on March 14th."

Poppy's eyes widened at this. "Oh my god, Elijah. You were born on Pi Day! No way! I only know it to 3.14159265, unfortunately. I've been trying to learn more but I keep getting bored. How old are you?" she asked, moving onto the next question quickly.

Ignoring her commentary, Elijah answered the next question quickly. "Currently, I am 1,057 years old." he said in amusement as he watched the blonde's eyes get even bigger, if possible.

"Okay, now _that_ is a big age-gap. Like, how the hell? Look at your _face_ for a second. It's gorgeous! How are you _that_ freaking old?" Poppy let out her rant quickly, and ignored her embarrassment as she watched what the freaking thousand-year-old would have to say in reply to her. Of course she knew already that he was over one thousand, it was just... Hearing the actual age of the man in front of her had changed everything that she had previously thought about the old Original.

Entertained as ever by the young girl in front of him, Elijah decided to let out a small chuckle, and continued to watch Poppy until she could calm down enough to actually speak properly again.

"Okay, strangely, this age thing just makes you even more interesting. Like, look at me, talking nonstop, when it should be you. Yes, I do have about ten billion thoughts running through my mind a day, but _you!_ You have lived through so much more than probably anyone alive right now, and that is insane."

Poppy was a little surprised by how ridiculous she was sounding, and how serious she was speaking, seeing as this didn't happen very often. Then again, she was second to top of her class, so somewhere in that brain of hers, there must be something that works well enough for her to sound articulate. Or it could just be all of the time that she's been spending with Elijah. Either, or.

"Honestly, you should be in a freaking Smithsonian. Your existence is amazing in itself. Elena was telling me earlier about Damon wanting you to die and suffer for nearly killing him – quite the laughing matter in my personal opinion – but I just can't imagine anyone wanting to destroy anything as powerful as you. Yeah, I do see where they're coming from with the whole, 'oh, he tried to kill me,' and 'oh, he's the reason that we were kidnapped' but I don't think that you should be looked at as an enemy; you should instead be looked at as a frigging awesome, hardcore, vampire guy who has lived about one thousand more years than we have. Sorry for babbling a bit there, it's just that I simply cannot understand how someone could possibly want to destroy the oldest living – well, semi-living – thing on the planet... My friends are really stupid, and have no clue what they're doing, do they?"

Poppy's speech surprised Elijah, as so many other things about this girl have. It seemed as if in every meeting that they would have, he ended up intrigued by her, in one way or other. Something about her long and obnoxious babbling, and all of the strange references to television shows and movies interested him in a way that only Poppy could trigger. Her strange and comical way of thinking had certainly changed his mind set on the Gilbert family. It was this feeling that seemed to urge him to want to become her friend. He hadn't had one in a while, and it was always good to know that someone would always be by your side in any situation.

Finally, he decided to give an answer to her babbling. "I suppose that your friends could have been more strategic in their plans to keep the oldest Gilbert safe, however, you must also notice how I must look like to them at the moment. Those of whom you call 'friends' are ignorant to my past, and do not know the struggles that my siblings and I have had to go through in the thousand years that we have been living. Everyone has made many mistakes in their lifetime, however, most do not have to exist long enough for those mistakes to add up, along with the guilt. Your friend Stefan, for example, seems wallowed in the guilt of his past life as a younger vampire. I, myself, can recall times that I had stumbled across him, and his poor decision making. We all have times where we feel as if we are not good enough for this world, but when you have been on it for several hundred years, all of that guilt will begin to add up and suffocate you. It all depends on how you deal with it, and how you use your past to help shape your future." Elijah explained.

Poppy looked at him thoughtfully, and wondered what some of the many mistakes he had made in his life were. Perhaps there were some as simple as choosing the wrong suit for an event, but the young girl thought past her immaturity and knew that in that man in front of her, held many secrets that were extremely unlikely to come out any time soon. And she decided to respect that by changing the topic.

The two spoke for what felt like forever, in Poppy's mind, but had ended up being 2 hours total. In this time, she learned more about his brother Niklaus and his sister Rebekah and everything that they had gone through for the past thousand years. He told her about their promise that they had made to each other and the many times that Niklaus had broken it for his own benefit. For some reason, Elijah gave her this information, not knowing if she would tell her family or friends, but something inside of him knew that she would respect his privacy, and not voice any of this to them. And Poppy knew of the unspoken promise that she had made him, and kept a mental note that she was not to tell anyone a word of what the Original had told her that day. She also knew that she had made a new friend that day, whether Elena found Elijah dangerous or not, Poppy was certain that she could trust the man with close to anything, and he would make it his duty to save it.

* * *

 _ **That was strangely difficult to write... Although I'm uploading this a few months after writing it, it took me quite a while to figure out how to make their conversations flow without making everything seem awkward. BTW: There will be a bunch of cursing in this, later in the story, but I just didn't really find the need for it in these beginning chapters. You know, as the story-line starts to get real, and the good stuff begins to happen, Poppy will probably be in many situations where she cusses, but looks very awkward when doing it because of her girly disposition... so yeah. Thanks for reading, and it would be wonderful to get some feedback from you guys! Anything and everything is helpful, and I would love to hear what you guys have to say about the plot and story-line so far.**_

 _ **All of those reviews for the last chapter were so amazing to read! I'm so glad that you're enjoying Poppy and her relationship with Elijah – they'll be opening up to each other even more soon, so you have that to look forward to! It can sometimes be difficult to write him out and get it all perfect to fit his personality and just the way that he speaks in general. I've honestly caught myself writing his dialogue as if he talked like a normal human, which we all know is not true at all ;)**_

 _ **Until next time!**_

 _ **~Alissa**_


	6. Valuable Information

The next day seemed to drag on for Poppy, as she was waiting for her meeting with Elijah. As she worried about it, her mind began to wander back to the man himself. The blonde had written in her diary of her conflicting emotions, and how she wanted to hate the vampire, but she couldn't help but feel as if there was a magnetic attraction, that was forcing her mind to be on him, at all times. She couldn't help it though; the man's impeccable choice of... well, everything, seemed to just have that effect on her.

It was these thoughts that had caused Poppy to get distracted in class, and not have an answer when her teacher had asked her a question about the math problem that they were supposed to be focused on.

She looked up at the teacher, wide-eyed, and she thanked her intelligence for acting quickly, because her brain managed to figure out the answer to the question in a split second. The annoying, strict teacher looked at her for a moment, knowing that the girl hadn't been paying attention before.

"Ms. Gilbert, pay attention when I am speaking. Your intellect may have saved you from detention this time, but next time you might not be so lucky. Now, onto the next question..."

She heard a few snickers in the room, but this small warning did not stop her from resuming her position and daydreaming about Elijah and his gentlemanly skills, that nearly all of the boys in the school lacked – one of the downers of public schools. Poppy let her mind wander throughout the class period, and it ended a lot quicker than it would have ended, had she been thinking about the actual topic. Seeing as this was her last class, she nearly ran to her locker to put away the notebooks that she wouldn't need for homework that night, then sped to the parking lot. She was immediately greeted with an expensive looking car – a different one from before – and knew that it was Elijah's from the way that he even _drove_ with class. That's right. The man could even drivein a way that showed his coolness and elegance.

Poppy looked around her at the students coming out of the school and was pleased, to say the least, when all eyes were on her. She smirked at them and winked, before getting in the car. Right when she closed the door, however, she turned her head and tried her best to glare at Elijah, who was sitting across from her, but even Poppy knew that it was weak, and instead turned the frown back to a smile. Admittedly, it was getting more and more difficult to hold that smile back when she was with the man. In fact, she was finding it difficult to hold herself back from flinging her arms around him, but she managed to do so before she embarrassed herself.

Elijah smiled back at her, but continued driving, ignoring all of the students' obvious stares that were following them and the car. Not only that, but the windows weren't tinted, so a few of her friends outside of the supernatural group were looking at her and Elijah, their eyes full of questions. It wasn't long until they were out of the school parking lot, and also in the middle of a conversation about Elijah's siblings and their personalities.

"Niklaus is very… Difficult." Poppy laughed aloud at his description. "He hasn't let anyone into his life other than Rebekah and me in a very long time. My brother has had a few relationships, all of them not ending well at all. It had affected him in a way that we will never understand. It made him anger more quickly and hold a grudge longer than many others might. And Rebekah is much too trusting. She is looking for love and family, and as long as she exists as a vampire, she will not get what she is looking for. Niklaus and I have been with her for a very long time, and every time she manages to find this love that she desires, it is taken from her, either by Niklaus or some other being that wished for her to suffer. Which she has, deeply."

Poppy felt bad for the girl. From hearing about their father earlier, she didn't have a very nice childhood, and becoming a vampire had probably only heightened that loss. Of course she would never show her pity to the Original, {duh, who would?} but in the inside, she would still remember what Rebekah had gone through, just so that she could imagine how everything must seem in herperspective. That was, if Poppy ever got the pleasure of meeting any more of the Originals. Although Elijah was saying that he wasn't sure that 'pleasure' was exactly the right word.

"Alright, Eli. So you've told me about some of your family and stuff, but how come _you_ are the only one who's managed to stay alive. That is, standing, and being conscious, rather than being locked up in a coffin, along with your sister. Why didn't Niklaus lock you up as well?" she asked curiously, looking up at him with interested eyes.

Elijah looked at the girl properly, for the first time that day, and saw what he had begun to expect from the girl. Her long, loosely curled, blonde hair that reached the bottom of her back was pinned out of her face, to give her a professional look that he didn't think that she would have been able to pull off. She chose to wear a burgundy skirt that day, rather than a dress, and a simple white sweater that was tucked into the skirt. Covering her legs from the cold were some black tights with an elegant flower print on them. This left her with a nice Autumn look that she had been enjoying lately, and Elijah knew that even his sister would applaud the young girl's choice in clothing, especially from what he had seen from the teenagers at the school that he had just drove through.

He tore his attention away from her clothing, {for the second that he had looked, at least} and looked up at her fare skin, and light makeup that she applied daily. It was no secret that her appearance was nice; this was simply stating a fact that everyone acknowledged, without really having to tell her. It was just a given. Poppy's big green eyes portrayed her innocence quite perfectly, and her high cheekbones and structured face showed much more maturity than the words spoken from her. Her clear, pale skin seemed to wrap everything up in a very pure and strikingly beautiful way, and Elijah was surprised that he had taken only then to notice her beauty. It seemed as if her quick and witty responses and small, quirky comments managed to make him completely ignore that side of the girl. However, now that he noticed her appearance, he couldn't seem to forget about it.

For a moment, he had even forgotten what the question was that she had asked earlier, but he regained his thoughts, and thought for a moment before replying. "My siblings all have a terrible temper, and all hold strong grudges when necessary, but Niklaus had always been the one to act purely on his boiling rage and get past anything that gets in his way. Niklaus acts on thought-out revenge. After years and years of war, he knows exactly what to do to hit you where it truly hurts. And while I love my brother, as one should love their siblings, Niklaus can be particularly dramatic with his means of revenge. Rebekah had done something to Niklaus that made him feel as if she was untrustworthy in some way, and he believed that the only way to resolve their differences would be to dagger her. I am looking, along with Jonas, to find my brother to kill him after I know where my family is located," he explained.

Poppy's eyes widened. Well, that escalated quickly. "Um… Elijah? Not that my stupid, 17-year-old opinion will matter to you at all, ever, but… Don't you think that it will be a bit hard to kill Niklaus? Your own brother?Also, how do you plan to do this? Didn't you say that he was, like, invincible or something? And what do you plan to do once you find your sister? From what I've heard so far, Rebekah doesn't sound too bad, but having another Original running around regardless, who isn't nearly as noble as you? Will that be safe for us boring, simple-minded, mortal humans?" she said, wondering what exactly the thousand-year-old was going to have to say in reply to that.

Elijah pondered her words for a moment. "Poppy, that may have just been the most reasonable thing that I have ever heard you say," he said, turning his head slightly, just so that he could see her small smirk. "However, I dosee where you are coming from. My sister knows that I would never dagger her, unless it was necessary, so if I do have to go to those means to control her, I will. She never forgave Niklaus when he did it because it was for no reason, whereas, I will always have a reason behind my actions. I believe in her wholly, and that she will keep in mind that we both desire the same thing."

Poppy sighed. The vampire didn't seem to understand that his sister could be extremely dangerous, even to her own brother. She seemed incredibly dangerous when seeking revenge, which she definitely would be doing even if the person who had inflicted the awful things that happened to her was dead. If only she actually knew the girl – it would probably be a lot easier to actually trust her then, but currently? She just had to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

"Elijah, you need to give her less credit. I know that you are older than her, and therefore stronger, but it's still dangerous for you to let her run around, free to kill anyone she pleases. From what I've gathered, you've been… I dunno, _awake_ more than she has been, so you know the right way to treat us humans, but she doesn't. This generation is probably the most disrespectful one yet, so what if someone calls Rebekah a bitch or something? There's no way that she will reply nicely to that… She can have a temper. I know this, just from you telling me about it, and you still don't see how dangerous she could be for this town! I get that you want to reunite your family or whatever, but it's pretty dangerous if you let her run free."

The vampire was once again surprised by the young girl's thoughts. Before he could think of a reply, however, they were driving into the parking lot of the apartment complex where they would find Jonas and Luca. Poppy was excited to see her friend again. They had been keeping in touch and texting quite a lot, but it was much better to see him in person, where she could rant about her friends and family and whatever was happening in her life.

Immediately when the car stopped, Poppy nearly ran out and up the stairs leading to the apartment. She didn't really care that she was leaving Elijah behind, because she was going to see Luca!She was a little embarrassed by her eagerness, but she couldn't help it! The warlock that she had met only a week ago had become one of her close friends, and she was more than ready to see him again.

Poppy got to their front door in record time {especially for the extremely opposite-of-physical teenager}, panting and nearly dying, but still grinning madly. She knocked on the front door frantically, not bothering to notice that Elijah had come behind her less than a second later, without one sign to show that he had just run up three flights of stairs. She didn't care. She just wanted to see her friend.

The door was pulled open quickly, the person behind it was probably worried that there was something wrong, and Poppy was pleased to see that it was who she was looking for. She wrapped her arms around Luca's waist, and felt his do the same, after a small awkward shuffle.

"Dude! I have missed you like hell! I felt like Elijah was _trying_ to drive slowly or something." Poppy rolled her eyes at the man standing behind her, who wasn't really interested in what was happening in front of him. "Like, school was going by like a frigging snail trying to cross the finish line of a 500-mile race… But it was really funny to see everyone's faces as they watched me get in the car with Elijah. Elena and The Gang were all giving me those 'judging you' eyes, even though they said they would stop, but everyone else was just curious, and maybe a bit angry to see me leave with him. It was hilarious." She rambled on as they were walking into the apartment, smirking and running a hand through her curly hair.

Luca looked a bit overwhelmed, but quickly he masked that with a look of curiosity etching across his face instead. He showed Elijah over to his father before turning to face Poppy again. "Why were they angry, exactly?" he asked her, smirking a little with amusement tracing all of his features.

"Well, you see, us Gilbert girls are very popular, and I am _quite_ stunning, so you can imagine that when I left with Mister 'I'm rich, charming, have great hair, and a nice suit,' there were several boys, and maybe a couple girls too," she paused to wink at him, then continued, "who were quite upset. You can probably throw in a few parents and teachers too. I guess I don't want to leave any of my Gentleman Callers out on my trip out to Jealousville at Envious Station." Poppy babbled, not bothering at all to put a filter going from her brain, to her mouth as usual, which she didn't really mind. Especially because this statement earned her a small chuckle from both Luca _and_ Elijah, who had heard their conversation from across the room. Poppy had to say that she was quite impressed with herself.

"So, you're… glad that this gossip is going to form about you? Wouldn't most people _not_ want their classmates and friends to think that they're dating someone who everyone in this town seems to loathe? I can't see where exactly you were planning on going with this…" Luca said, looking at her as if he knew a secret and was almost willing to tell it.

And Poppy desperately wanted to know what that secret was.

"Okay, yeah sure, my family and friends hate Elijah, but it's nice to get a rise out of them every once in a while. And by that, I mean every other day, but you get the point. And my annoying classmates? All that they know is that I'm hot, and let's face it, for a thousand-year-old, Elijah looks pretty good. My fellow students just need a bit of brand new gossip to work with, and a popular girl getting into the same car as… That…" She gestured to Elijah, who was trying to busy himself by speaking quietly with Jonas, even though Poppy knew that he was actually listening to their conversation. "Well, that's enough of a spark to get some new stuff going, which we actually reallyneed at Mystic Falls High School. That place is boring. As. Hell. Just telling you. So, yeah, that's the only reason that I'm happy about this. Just to get a rise out of them, really. The idiot students these days can really fall for, like, anything. It's hilarious when you fill their lockers with rubber ducks. They always get so confused…"

Luca looked as confused as one of the kids who were facing the rubber ducks. He frowned, not quite able to understand the young girl. He knew, of course, that she liked Elijah. It was obvious, as it was clear that the old vampire had shown a liking to the girl as well – one that he hadn't developed for anyone else since he had arrived.

The teenager was unable to finish his thoughts, though, because it was soon time for Poppy's necklace to be looked at.

"If you wouldn't mind, could you place it on the table?" Jonas asked her kindly, only to earn a glare from the girl.

"You swear you won't explode it?"

"I swear."

"Melt it? Disintegrate it? _Implode it?_ "

"I swear to not destroy your necklace in any way. I only wish to see it for now, and then I will be able to look deeper into it and what it does, if anything. I swear." Jonas said sincerely.

Poppy sighed one last time before hesitantly unclasping her chain from around her neck and handing it over to the warlock. She pursed her lips as she watched the warlock examine it for a while, twirling it around in his hands, before going to all of his books and looking through to see if he could find anything that would lead them to its origins.

The teenager found this to be boring after a while, as most would get after watching a man stare at a necklace for 5 minutes, so she decided to start a conversation with whoever would join in.

"So tell me; Which Hogwarts house would you be in?"

Luca looked up at her and nearly laughed. "I look the test and it said I would be Hufflepuff, but then I got mad and took it again and got Slytherin. No one really wants to just settle with Hufflepuff, do they?" he said. Poppy nodded.

"Yeah, jeez they are annoying. I'm either Slytherin or Ravenclaw. I had to choose between them and I said Ravenclaw, but only because I would get claustrophobic down in those dungeons all the time… But just imagine being in the same house as Draco Malfoy... Well, it's too late now I guess. What about you, Elijah? Have you ever taken the test?" she asked curiously, looking at the man who seemed bored with his facial expression, but held a smile only in his eyes.

"I have no idea what you are speaking of, I'm pleased to say. Though, I am curious."

Luca decided to speak up. "It's from a popular book series – Harry Potter? Never heard of it? – Well, anyways, there are four houses in this school of magic that you can be sorted into. Gryffindor is for the brave-hearted. Ravenclaw is for the highly intelligent. Slytherin is for the cunning and powerful. Hufflepuff is for the loyal, or those who don't belong in any of the other houses. No one really wants to be Hufflepuff because it's the most boring of them. They aren't the adventure-seeking sort, really," he explained.

Elijah seemed to be taking this very seriously, because when Poppy looked up at him, she could see him thoughtfully looking across the room. She smiled softly to herself.

"You know, I think you'd be Ravenclaw. You're very intelligent and wisewith your old age," she said, only half-teasing. "Plus, I can't help but wonder how many times you've gone to college by now… But of course, if you're in Ravenclaw, we'd have to go to, like, all of our classes together, which would be really awful because you sort of were the reason behind my kidnapping. Maybe if we went to Hogwarts, though, there wouldn't have been a kidnapping in the first place. Imagine…"

"Poppy, aren't there more important things to discuss in life other than what group you would be in if you were to be in a fictional world?" Elijah asked with an uninterested tone. "Are you curious what-so-ever about the powers that may be possessed in your necklace? You do realize that this will control your fate, and that if my brother does escape, you may be his target when we find out what exactly this does."

Poppy crossed her arms at him and frowned. "Asshole. You don't understand the importance of the discussion we're having. I mean, you haven't even seen the films _,_ let alone read the books. Maybe we can have a huge movie marathon where I can show you Disney, along with Harry Potter, and oh! I bet you've seen it ten billion times, but we can watch Phantom of the Opera! Dude, this is going to turn into just a week of doing nothing but watching films. It will be beautiful. I'm going to legitimately start planning this. I'll find a week and get everything rented or bought. Rent! We could also watch that! You have no idea how excited I am, even if I _have_ watched these all about a million times each. Luca, you're free to join us if you want…"

She continued to babble on about plans for their 'Film Week' as the young girl has taken to calling it. By the time she was interrupted, the blonde had about 30 films on their queue.

"Quiet, please. Now I have to concentrate more to dig deeper into the magic." Jonas said, crinkling his eyebrows. Poppy frowned, but stopped talking, to everyone's delight. "This necklace is much older than you believed it to be. I'm going to get as deep into its past as it will allow me, so don't be startled or frightened when I begin to get weak."

The two teenagers watched in sad eyes when Jonas squeezed his eyes shut and screamed out of pain from his power that was slowly draining. Luca fought the urge to get up and comfort his father, but he knew that doing that would break the connection, which would defeat the purpose of the whole meeting.

It seemed like hours had passed by when Jonas stopped his screaming and instead started panting, and his conscience came back from the necklace to his body. Once he had calmed down enough, he turned to Elijah and Poppy. The young girl felt disgusted when she found that Elijah didn't show a sign of fear for his accomplice and she soon realized that Jonas and the Original did not have the relationship that she thought they had. No, Jonas was more like a pawn in Elijah's big game of chess. Poppy liked to think of herself as more of a bishop in his game, but noted that his feelings were probably the same towards her.

"The 'P' that is on your necklace does not mean 'Poppy' as we had previously believed. It instead stands for 'Petrova' and it dates back to the exact day that the original doppelgänger was born. I'm beginning to think that Poppy isn't the only Petrova Twin in the family tree."

* * *

 **Whattt? So, yeah, you can see that there's a nice, juicy subplot coming up in here, and you can also see that I am absolutely AWFUL at cliffhangers. As I have mentioned before, everything in this story was already written out, so I know exactly where this is going, and I also know that it gets much better as it progresses. It would be nice, though, to hear/read some feedback. *awkward not-so-subtle hint* Thank you for reading!**

 **~Alissa**


	7. Revealing Truths

"I'm beginning to think that Poppy isn't the only Petrova Twin in the family tree." Jonas said dramatically.

Poppy raised her eyebrows in surprise. So, she wasn't the only twin of a doppelgänger? And one of the Petrova bloodline, no less. "Um… So, where do I fit in with this?" she asked. "What does this mean for Elena? And what does it have to do with my necklace?"

"Let me start from the beginning, with the first Petrova doppelganger. From what we know of currently, Tatia was the very first one from your bloodline in the supernatural." Jonas explained. "In fact, I believe that she and Elijah were quite… familiar… with each other."

The girl looked over to the Original, whose eyes had shown a flash of recognition, love, and loss, all within the second. Jealously sparked inside of her, but she got mad at herself because, who was she to get mad at her thousand-year-old doppelganger grandmother of some sort? Poppy rolled her eyes at her thoughts and tried to get back to the topic. She quickly realized that since Elijah had known Tatia, he had probably also known her twin…

Elijah's thoughts must have been along the same lines as hers, because he whispered a name very faintly. Everyone raised their eyebrows in question. "Gwendoline…" he repeated, his mind seeming to be in a different place. "How could I have forgotten about her until now?"

"… Could you elaborate…?" Poppy said, looking up at him curiously.

"Gwen and I were great friends. That friendship ended as quickly as it began, however, when I began to see her sister as a romantic interest. From then, our relationship plummeted and I can only remember that she had performed an unspeakable deed, and that she was then later punished by death. Gwen looked nothing like Tatia, just as you look nothing like Elena. However, her beauty was still just as breathtaking, as is yours. Her black curls contrasted completely with her pale skin. Some of your features were the same, but nothing close for you to be doppelgangers. One thing that I do know, however, is that you both had the same necklace. How is it that I could have forgotten?"

Poppy felt a bit embarrassed to be called, as he put it, 'breathtaking' but she swallowed that down to use as some amusing leverage later. Instead, she decided to wonder about how she could possibly be related to someone a thousand years back, who also happened to have the pendent that she always kept on her neck? Also, why did Elijah have a freaking 'romantic interest' with someone who looked exactly like her sister?

"Okay, now that we've got Tatia down, wasn't there a Katherine involved in this whole thing as well? I remember talking with Stefan and he wouldn't stop complaining about her, and according to Damon, apparently I should refer to her as a bitch, but it's Damon – like I'm gonna listen to that a-hole. But anyway, Katherine." The blonde said, switching her gaze between Jonas and Elijah. Could it be possible that Elijah also had romantic interests with _another_ girl who looks like her sister?

A flash of recognition occurred in the Originals face, answering her last question. Okay, now this was just getting annoying. There was no way he could also begin to have feelings for Elena too, right? Poppy nearly growled to herself in annoyance. She needed to shut off her thoughts about Elijah.

 _Right, okay. Just think about your weird, old necklace and think about how strange it is that every single doppelgänger on your bloodline has a twin, with the same necklace. Psh, there's no reason to think about Elijah after all. Except for his love interest in two people who look exactly like-_

"Dammit!" Poppy accidently said out loud, getting her strange looks from the men in the room. "Um… uh… Okay, I'm not even gonna try to say anything to back me up on my random swearing." She shrugged and crossed her arms, glaring at herself – if that was possible. "Well, go on Elijah. Explain yet another woman of whom you had fallen in love with. Don't mind me, over here… Cursing…"

Everyone looked at her still, unsure of what exactly was happening in her young mind. Luca smirked at her, understanding why she was so upset. He was actually surprised that Elijah hadn't figured out what she was feeling by now, but who knows… The Original wasquite hard to read, so he may have known that this small, teenage girl had a big, fat, ridiculous crush on him. He nearly chuckled to himself, but realized he'd have to go through the same situation that Poppy was just in, and he didn't want to do that, so he held it in.

"Lilyana," Elijah explained. "She was Katerina's sister. She had dark, nearly black hair and olive skin, which would match your sister's perfectly. Lilyana, she was… very beautiful and lovely. Niklaus thought so as well. In fact, he was quite keen of her. That was, until Katerina wronged him. He felt as if his revenge against her sister was stronger than his love for her, and so when he killed all of Katerina's family, my brother had also killed Lilyana with them. When I asked him about her afterwards, he wouldn't say a thing. My siblings and I all believe that Niklaus had lost a strong piece of his humanity that day – a piece that he quite possibly will never get back. Mostly due to my intentions with him in the near future."

Poppy actually didn't mind listening to this, but was pretty grossed out when she heard of the 'All Mighty Niklaus' falling in lovewith someone… It was so much easier to think about possibly killing someone, when you believed that they didn't have anything close to a chance of becoming good again.

"Hey, Elijah?"

"Yes, Poppy."

"Is it possible that Niklaus could gain love again?"

"No one could know the answer to that question, Poppy." Elijah said slowly, unsure of where this was going. "Why are you asking?"

"Oh, well perhaps there are a few girls in Mystic Falls that are into that whole, 'bad-boy, I eat people, I'm going to kill your love ones' type of vibe. I mean, I know a girl who's got an annoying boyfriend and who is desperate. Just ask, and I've got her for you. Oh – plus, she's a vampire. We wouldn't want our annoying, little Niklaus to eat the poor girl, would we?"

"Poppy, for some reason, I don't think we should give my brother a new love-interest. We all know that it will only result in death and the loss of his humanity. Besides, if our plan works correctly, he will be dead long before he can get to know any of your friends."

She rolled her eyes, but dropped the subject because she knew that it would be nearly impossible for Niklaus to be interested in anyone _._ Plus, she was sort of guessing that he was really ugly and power-hungry looking, and Caroline would probably be, like, a thousand miles over his league. Maybe she had more friends that were more deserving of the asshole's love… But then again, maybe Elijah wasn't the only one in the Mikaelson family to get the 'smokin hot' gene. She decided to just drop the topic – it would just be easiest that way, it seemed.

"Yeah. I guess that's what we're hoping for. But, how will we know when he gets here? And what exactly is the plan? Like, I know it has to do with some ritual and then he will change into his werewolf form deal, but that's pretty much all that I know. Anyone care to enlighten me?"

Jonas decided to speak up. "Klaus wants to perform a ritual that will make it so that his werewolf side could turn whenever he wishes, rather than wait for the full moon. This way, he will have even more power, any time he wants it. Also, Klaus has been trying to figure out how he can make more hybrids out of plain werewolves. From what we've heard, he's been trying to make an army." He explained.

Poppy nodded. "Okay, that makes sense. I sorta understand why everyone wants to kill him now."

"Because you did not understand before?" Elijah asked, raising his eyebrows and looking at her.

"Of course I understood, dumbnut. I can just see how these additional factors could make for some very angry people…"

 _ **RING RING RING**_

"Oh, shoot. I should really start turning off my ringer… This is awkward, isn't it?" Poppy said, looking down at her phone that showed the words _Elena Calling_ and she accepted the call quickly. "Hiya. What's up?"

"Hey, Poppy." Elena replied. She didn't sound worried or concerned – just free spirited, happy Elena. Thank goodness. "So, just out of curiosity… Why exactly did the entire school see you ride out of the parking lot in Elijah's car? Are you starting to get buddy-buddy with him? Because that may be a problem."

Poppy immediately felt annoyed and scoffed at her sister's ridiculousness, loud enough so that she could hear it. "'A problem'? And whose problem might this be? Why exactly does everyone care about me hanging out with him? If you haven't quite remembered, Elijah isn't the real enemy we're facing here…"

"That doesn't change the fact that he's dangerous. He could _kill_ you, Poppy. You aren't safe there. You have to leave wherever you are and get back home. Jenna's actually been wanting to ask you about something, and I know that Aurora is going to need to be fed soon. If you can't think of your own safety, please come home to finish homework or something…"

"Dude, listen to me. Very clearly. Elijah is not dangerous or harmful in any way whatsoever." She looked over at the old vampire, who was wearing the tiniest bit of a smirk – he looked a bit proud. "He's just annoying." His tiniest sign of a smirk disappeared, but Poppy saw the amusement in his eyes. Luca was trying to keep himself from snickering. "I mean, he would have killed me already if that was his goal. We all know this. Why would anyone keep me alive, other than for the fact that they enjoy my company? I'm annoying as hell. Plus, what changed since that conversation that we had, just a little while ago? You know, about that thing… So anyway, go back to your little Elena Life and do your little Elena Things like playing with my beautiful Stefan's feelings and pulling his asshole of a brother along with him. Auf wiedersehen." She hung up, glaring and rolling her eyes at the same time.

"Do you end your conversations by saying goodbye in German…?" Luca asked her, smirking. Poppy rolled her eyes at him and punched his arm.

"Whatever, like you don't add in different languages into your everyday life…" she said, looking shy all of a sudden. Poppy normally tried to hide her intelligence by using her charm of 'annoying-yet-adorable' so that she could relate to more people. However, a few small things like that slipped out occasionally, and they explained to everyone why she was second to top of her class. "It's just something that I picked up in, like, seventh grade or something… I would watch Project Runway, you know? Heidi would alwayssay goodbye to them in German, and I was so obsessed that I sort of began to say it as well… Is that weird? I don't really know how normal humans work, so I sort of do whatever," she explained, babbling in a way that only she could.

"Poppy Gilbert, you are a very strange girl. I have not met anyone in the 21st century so far who can be as annoying as you, and yet have such a high level of intelligence. Have your parents ever had you tested?" Elijah asked curiously, looking at the young girl.

"Yes they have, actually. But the only thing that they really noted was how much I procrastinate, and how I almost always get the right answers anyway. My procrastination and laziness – AKA: not joining in sports – is the only reason why I'm not top of the class. But that doesn't mean that I don't get to pretty much choose any college that I want and they will automatically accept me. I barely even have to fill in the applications. When I was, like, four, they declared me as a little tiny prodigy, but I don't really take it that seriously. However, I _did_ take Geometry in seventh grade, with nothing lower than a B."

"Okay, Poppy." Luca said to her, stopping her from bragging anymore in that conversation. "I think we've got the picture. In fact, if you keep talking, I think my dad will start lecturing me on how I should be more like _you._ And that would be… very weird."

She nodded, her eyes wide as she realized how much she had said about this secret that she had just kept to herself all of these years. Her intelligence was something that she'd always only thought about, but never acted on or anything. Almost no one at her school knew that she could automatically get accepted into Stanford if she put in an application, not to mention her life story of both parents dying. She'd always wanted to keep that part of herself a secret. It was her automatic defense – to be seen as average.

"Right, okay, never mind that subject. So, what do you think all of this means? And how does this connect to my necklace?" Poppy asked, frowning at the necklace that was still not in its rightful place.

"From what I'm seeing," Jonas began. "All three of you have the same necklace. And what you once believed to stand for Poppy, it truly stands for Petrova. It must have been passed through the generations. Isobel must have left the necklace on you when you were born and your mom and dad gave it to you later."

At this, Poppy froze. "Okay, hold up. Who's Isobel exactly? What are you talking about?"

Elijah shifted in his chair, realizing that Elena had forgotten about a rather large detail in the story. "Well, this is probably not the best news to hear at the moment… Elena had neglected to tell you that you were not born to Miranda and Grayson Gilbert. Both of you were adopted. Your true birthright lands with Isobel Flemming. I would say more, but I'm starting to think that you should ask your sister to say more, rather than hear from me. Shall I take you home?"

Poppy couldn't believe what she was hearing. So, her parents hadn't really been her parents this whole time? And Elena knew about it – without telling her? Of course she knew now that Elena was one to lie about many things, but she just thought that her sister would tell her everything from now on. Yet again, she was stuck with being informed by Elijah, of all people, about an incredibly important thing in her life.

It didn't help with the way that he said everything so casually… As if she hadn't just heard that her parents weren't actually her parents and that he was instead talking about his favorite kind of tea. She glared at him.

"Ugh, fine. Give me my necklace." She snatched it off the table and put it on again, blinking away tears of frustration and trying to calm herself down. How could her own sister forget to mention that they were adopted? How did this piece of information slip her mind while she was spilling her guts on everything that had happened in Mystic Falls in the past year?

"Bye, Luca. Sorry, but I don't really want to bother with smiling at the moment. I'm too busy imagining what it would be like if I _wasn't_ Elena Gilbert's sister. Oh, wait! Should I even call her that? Is she actually Elena Flemming? The world will never freaking know. What the hell was going on in her mind? Why didn't she tell me? Dammit." She mumbled, pulling on a jacket with a bit more force than necessary. "We'll continue this next week or something, when I've _not_ justlearned that I was adopted…"

The small blonde didn't wait for any replies before she was out of the small apartment and going down the stairs as quickly as her small legs could take her. When she finished the first flight of stairs, Elijah had caught up with her and had to slow down so that she would be able to go at his pace. _Stupid boys with their stupid tall bodies and long legs. Why did I have to be cursed with the short gene?_ Poppy tried to shake these thoughts out of her head because they really shouldn't have been there, considering the circumstances.

After about a minute, they reached the car again and they were driving off in the direction of the Gilbert home. When a few minutes of silence passed, Poppy began to get curious. "Hey, Elijah?"

"Yes, Poppy?" he said. They had gone through this questioning routine several times by now, every time they would approach it the same way.

"Do you think that Elena had the right to hide from me that I was really adopted? Wouldn't you be angry if you found out that, say, Rebekah or something, wasn't truly your sister? And she'd kept it from you the whole thousand years that you had known each other?" she asked, crossing her arms and obviously looking for a serious answer.

"I suppose that I would be quite upset with her, yes, but we had agreed to Always and Forever, and I stand by that. I am true to my word. Everything is different with Niklaus, however, as he has been killing us left and right, and therefore no longer deserves my trust. But if Rebekah had been faithful with me until that moment, I would not mind," he explained, glancing over at Poppy.

She frowned, not understanding how he could possibly not be angry if he had learned this. Then it hit her.

"I know why it hurts me more than it would hurt you…" she said, sighing. She closed her eyes for a moment. "It's because we were always _together._ Through everything. We were never separated, not even in birth. We'd known each other for our whole existence. That's why it feels like she'd betrayed me. I mean, Jeremy… Oh my god, Jeremy isn't even my _brother._ Everything is different now… How could she do this? I understand keeping supernatural stuff away, but… Not our parents. This isn't the Elena that I grew up with…"

Suddenly she had an idea. It would probably turn out to be terribly, but she went for it any way.

"Elijah, are you busy with killing anyone tonight? Or tracking down your evil hybrid brother?" Poppy asked.

Elijah glanced down at her curiously. "No, I do not have any plans for this evening, why?" he asked.

"How would you feel about a Harry Potter marathon? I'll text Luca too so that he won't feel left out. Plus, I sort of want to spite Elena, but that's beyond the point…" she began babbling. "We could make popcorn and do the whole thing. Altogether, it takes about 20 hours to watch if we make meals in between, so it's not _that_ long. Plus, I have nothing better to do with the next day. Other than school, but I've had close to perfect attendance so they won't mind me missing a day."

The Original gave her a strange look, showing her clearly that she was being weird. Poppy didn't seem to care, though. "Tell me, why would I want to spend 20 consecutive hours with you and a teenage warlock, so that I can watch a ridiculously unrealistic film?" he asked.

"Okay, first of all, you're saying that Harry Potter is unrealistic when every day you wake up and think to yourself _'Oh, hey I'm an Original vampire'._ Second, I am awesome and the best person you'll ever meet and deep down, you know that. Last, who would say no to popcorn and Harry Potter and not doing anything for nearly a whole day?" she said. All of these points made total sense to her. How could anyone resist? Just in case, she looked at him with her big, green eyes that had let her slide for so many late homework assignments and hoped that this would make him agree.

He was just about to decline her offer until he looked over and saw the pleading look on her face. Elijah gave an exasperated look, closing his eyes for a moment as if asking himself ' _Why am I doing this? What am I getting into?'_ but these thoughts didn't seem to stop his decision.

"Fine, Poppy. But please hold back on the talking, or I _will_ leave." He said, rolling his eyes as she just about squealed in excitement.

"Yes! Elena will be so pissed off, this is great! I'll text Luca. Oooh… Caroline's also a huge fan, can she come over? Oh, I don't care I'm inviting her. Chances are she'll say no anyway. I don't really think that Stefan would enjoy your company, so I won't invite him… Maybe Bonnie would like to come. I know that she has this thing going on with Luca, but then again... That might make things a bit awkward. Okay, I'll just invite Caroline and Luca. Just a second." She said, thinking out loud.

Elijah rolled his eyes at her. _Why,_ he asked himself, _have I agreed to do this?_

* * *

 _ **This will be fun, won't it? Please leave your thoughts in the reviews! Until next time!**_

 _ **~Alissa**_

 _ **PS: I've officially decided that their ship name is Elipy because I think it's the most adorable ship name ever. Just say it out, you'll get what I'm saying oh my god**_


	8. Bonding

"Listen, Care. It isn't like he's about to kill us over a friendly marathon of Harry Potter…"

So far, Caroline had refused to go, due to the company that was coming. She, along with everyone else in the goddamned town, was just about petrified of Elijah. Poppy couldn't even begin to understand what the fear was based upon, but she tried not to judge as she calmly {impatiently} told her that there was nothing to be afraid of.

"Caroline, you have no idea how many times this annoying man has rolled his eyes at me or told me to shut up. And yet, am I alive? Am I speaking to you? I know that you can hear my heartbeat through the phone, so you can't really say anything. You can also hear Elijah breathing, and I just called him annoying. Has he ripped out my heart? No." There was a stubborn pause over the line, and Poppy sighed.

"Care, literally all that we'll be doing is stuffing our faces with junk food while watching the entire Harry Potter series without stopping. You should come over, if nothing else, than to prove that you aren't afraid of anything, which shows how freaking awesome you are," she said, smirking to herself when she knew that she had just made her friend's decision.

"… Ugh! Alright! Fine, I'll go. But only because I need to catch up with you since you've been ignoringeveryone back here, even me. When do you want me to come over?" she asked, exasperated with her best friend.

"Hmmm… Well, judging from Elijah's grandpa driving speed, we'll get home in around 25 minutes, but I sort of want to piss off Elena, so maybe in an hour? Does that work? And we'll have to take a day off of school, but what does that really matter when you're immortal, am I right? So, yeah an hour would work," she said awkwardly.

"Okay! See you then! And don't provoke Elena too much. I don't care if you're mad, you just need to get over this. And soon. I'm done with you not wanting to hang out with us! We've all missed you! But I really have to go, so I'll see you soon." Caroline said. It was clear that she'd missed Poppy over the past few days, and they hadn't actually had a true conversation in about a week. They were in a real need of girl talk, especially on Caroline's side.

"Yeah, see you later!" With that, Poppy hung up and looked over at Elijah. "How exciting! We're gonna have to order disgusting pizza that's terrible for our bodily health, eat some popcorn, and get a bunch of candy… Jeez, it's been way too long since I've done a whole marathon. You will lovethe series, I just know it. Pretty much everyone does. Except for Bonnie, but I'm starting to see how it can be a bit offensive to her. You know, witches and wizards and all…"

"Poppy, don't make me regret my decision even more than I already do." Elijah said with an annoyed expression, as usual.

"Hey, there is a lot of bonding that can happen while watching these films. I've been to all of the opening nights and in every single one, I met someone and became good friends with them. I still text them all occasionally. But that's not the point. The point is, you're coming over to my house and you need to be at least somewhat nice to Elena. No freaking her out or anything. And don't go around killing Jeremy or Jenna. And don't interrupt me when I'm being dramatic and getting answers from Elena."

"Are you listing out rules that I have to follow?" Elijah asked, clearly frustrated that a teenage girl thinks that she has more power than him.

"Uh… Yeah? And that surprises you…?" At this point, she expected for him to be used to her weirdness, so now it was on him that he was annoyed with her. In her opinion, at least… "So anyway, just do that and don't be an asshole and you'll be good. But then again, I hardly think that that last one is possible…"

Elijah sighed, looking back at the road. Why he had agreed to do this in the first place was truly beyond him. Couldn't he had just firmly said 'no' and made the girl shut up immediately?

"I'm home! Finally! Oh my god, just wait until 'Lena sees you. I hope Damon is there too because I feel like that would be embarrassing to him since you tried to kill him earlier. Shit! Do you think Stefan would be angry if he was there and he saw me? And with youof all people… Do you think he'd have already heard me babbling like a maniac? I should really stop with this whole thing. I mean, I can't imagine how it must be like for anyone to spend any time with me at all. How do I have _any_ friends? Wait, what was I talking about again?" Poppy blurted out in one breath. She looked up again and focused her vision. "Oh! Right! We're home, okay. What are you waiting for Mikaelson? Come on."

The Original in question, who had been glaring at the girl for a while, finally got up and opened Poppy's door using his vamp-speed. She quickly got out, not bothering to say anything in thanks since she was already used to his polite-ways. The blonde ran up to the door and burst in loudly, hoping to make a dramatic entrance that would manage to make Elena feel worse than she already did.

"Sister, where are you?" she asked, yelling as she went to the living room and then looked in the kitchen. When Poppy turned around, she saw the person in question standing at the doorway, crossed arms and pouty face and all. "Before you say _shit,_ you need a serious talking to, idiot."

Elena raised her eyebrows in surprise at her sister's bluntness before nodding and directing both of them towards the couch. "Okay, Poppy. What's up?" she said, trying to not make it sound forced and failing completely.

"Hey, um, 'Lena. Do you want to tell me exactly how long you've fucking known that Miranda and Grayson Gilbert are not our real parents?" Poppy asked bluntly. An apologetic look swept over Elena's features, but before she said anything, or even opened her mouth, Poppy continued. "Or maybe, I don't know, you weren't ever going to tell me. Does Jeremy know? God, there's just no getting the truth from you, is there? I don't know why I ever thought you had told me everything. I honestly cannot believe you."

"Poppy, I'm so, _so_ sor-"

"Save it, Elena. And by the way, the living room for the next 24 hours is reserved. But Stefan's allowed if he comes over. After all, he isn't the one who lied about who frigging made us."

Elena closed her eyes and took a deep breath, as all of the lies and secrets that she'd been keeping caught up at once. "I feel like there isn't anything that I can say at this point to make you forgive me. Yeah, I've been keeping all of this stuff from you, and yes you deserved to know, but how was I supposed to tell you? Poppy, you don't get what I've been through. I may have told you and explained, but there's always more to the story that's just unexplainable."

Poppy sighed, knowing that she'd have to forgive her sister at some point. However, she was very determined to have that point come much later than sooner. "Elena, I was just kidnapped by a bunch of vampires, and then your boyfriends both forgot about me when they came for you. And then I was taken by some annoying ancient, but strangely attractive for his age, vampire and then I learned that I was adopted and that you knew about this _months_ ago. I get that you're sorry, but right now that isn't enough. Maybe it will be enough in about a week, after you bought me a bunch of chocolate and a nice, huge muffin basket. But right now? I'm not going to be forgiving you. Just be good for a while and don't come up with more stuff that will get me pissed, okay?"

Before there was time for an answer, Poppy left and grabbed Elijah's wrist and dragged him to the living room only to find Jenna and Jeremy playing a video game.

"We have another human present who isn't a part of our family, act presentable!" the perky blonde said, sitting in the middle of the two who didn't even take a glance at their guest.

"Thanks for getting in the way, Pops. You distracted me," Jeremy nearly growled, using the nickname that he knew his sister hated.

"Wow, Jerrymabob. You're playing dirty. Jermonster, I can't believe you could call me that! Honestly, I could go on forever if that's how you're gonna play," she teased. Then she looked back at the vampire who was just standing at the door, watching the exchange. "Mikaelson, what are you doing just standing there? Come and greet my stupid brother and flawless aunt. I'm gonna go check the door because Luca and Care will probably be here soon. Oh! And by the way, Aunt Jenna, this is Elijah, he's my… I dunno, he's annoying, but I guess the hair and the suits make up for it."

Poppy left the room and immediately heard someone knock on the door. Before she could open it, Caroline entered and ran straight to her tiny friend, completely crushing her in a hug.

"Poppy! You've been so reckless lately that I'm afraid to leave your side! I mean, Elijah isn't exactly the safest person to spend your time with, but you're so freaking stubborn… But I guess I can't really say no to a Harry Potter marathon, so… I will _not_ be sitting next to him though," she said quickly, in the same exact way that Poppy would.

"Okay, calm down, I wouldn't ever force you through the torture of sitting next to Elijah. I guess I'll put myself through that. Luca should be coming over soon, though! We can wait and force Elijah to spend more awkward time with Jenna and Jeremy, it will be hilarious walking back into that, muwahaha!" Poppy made an exaggerated look of mischief before going to sit on a chair on the porch with Caroline following behind her.

"Oh, yeah, that will teach him not to be an evil vampire who has surely committed many murders! Let's make him spend time with your _family._ "

"Hey, it's punishment for me…"

"Gilbert! It's been quite some time, hasn't it?"

Poppy looked back to see her friend and a smile spread across her face.

"Luca! I haven't seen you since, like, an hour ago! I don't know how I've survived such a hardship!" Poppy said while running up to hug him.

"I know; how do we even do it?" he said, smirking.

"No clue, but I think that I've made Elijah awkward enough at this point, would you think, Caroline?" she asked, looking to her best friend.

"Honestly, I personally think he should be punished further, but I also want to start watching the movies, so I guess I could live with saving him right now."

"Sounds great! All I'll have to do at this point is get Jer and Jenna off that couch so we can start. Oh, and also force Elena to get us junk food and make us popcorn and stuff as discipline for her actions." Poppy said as she skipped back inside the house, now with one more person following behind her. Walking into the living room, Poppy sat down on the couch next to Elijah and stared pointedly at her aunt and brother.

It took them a couple of seconds to notice, but finally they looked over.

"Is there something that you want?" Jenna asked, a bit annoyed that she had to pause the game.

"Yeah, I was wondering if we could use this TV for the next- oh, I don't know… Roughly 20 hours?" Poppy asked, running a hand through her curly hair.

Jeremy sighed loudly, but stood up and left the room. Jenna soon followed him, but not before she said something about beauty sleep and not having the noise be too loud.

Poppy smiled and didn't say anything until they left the room.

"Lovely, now all I need is to turn Elena into my personal house elf – reference – and then we can watch all of them consecutively! Honestly, I have no idea how you haven't seen them, Elijah. I mean, they're only the _best_ book and movie series that had ever been made. Draco Malfoy has a way of getting to my soul…" she said. Elijah just looked at her with a strange look on his face, wondering how one tiny teenage girl could hold so many words and emotions.

At the comment of Draco Malfoy, Caroline and Luca both groaned.

"Oh, come _on_ Poppy! He's a bully! Why would you like such a stereotypical _Slytherin?"_ Caroline asked. Poppy rolled her eyes.

"Care, Draco can't help the life that his father brought him in to! He just never was taught the correct 'right vs. wrong' mentality like everyone else in the series was!" she defended. Then, she looked over at Elijah and stuck her tongue out at the face he was making at her. "You will understand eventually. I'm sure you'll also appreciate his fashion choices. They're quite similar to yours, actually."

Luca and Caroline laughed, while Elijah rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, I'm gonna go get Elena so she can get us stuff." Poppy said, getting up from her spot on the couch. They had been situated so that left to right it would show: Elijah, Poppy, Caroline, and then Luca.

She went upstairs and into Elena's room to find her lamely doing homework. The blonde rolled her eyes. She lived in a world full of vampires and witches and crap and she was doing _homework?_ Well, then again, she wasn't born with the ability to wing everything an hour before class started and get every answer right, like Poppy could. She shrugged and got back on track.

"Would you mind making us popcorn? And getting us candy? Oh! And ice cream? And ordering pizza maybe?" she asked. Elena almost jumped when she started talking because she hadn't even realized that she had entered the room yet.

"Oh my god, you scared me!" she said, calming her breath. "Uh, yeah I guess I could. I'm guessing for the candy, chocolate and skittles, for the ice cream, chocolate fudge brownie and mint oreo, and the pizza, two large cheeses?"

Poppy nodded. "Yup. You know me so well… Even if I still sort of want to rip your head off," she said before leaving the room quickly.

Once that was settled, she went back downstairs and put the first disk into the player.

"And so it begins!" she said happily, getting back to her seat.

* * *

 _ **{AN: Here are all of the Harry Potter moments, so if you want to skip it, you can go to the next line break!}**_

They all began the first movie with Poppy, Luca and Caroline completely enthralled while Elijah scoffed a few times, but seemed to enjoy it overall. Poppy was _very_ amused when he gasped at the end when Quirrel revealed that it had actually been him the whole time, rather than Snape. She filed that in her mind as a future metaphor she could use with him – _"I bet you're as surprised as when you found out it was Quirrel,"_ – yep, that was definitely going to happen.

It wasn't long before they were adding in the second disk. While they were waiting through the previews, an argument erupted on whether Elijah would be Ravenclaw or Slytherin. Poppy was positive that he would be Ravenclaw, while both Luca and Caroline thought the opposite.

"Oh, come on! He's _so_ Slytherin. Rich, check. Old family, check. Asshole, check. It just makes the most sense!" Caroline argued. Poppy rolled her eyes.

"Uh, not all Slytherins are assholes. We just value ambition and cunning… Stop bagging on my house! Well, it's sort of my house… And also, the person chooses which house they're in, not the Hat. It's what the person values the most at that specific time. Why don't you know this already?" she countered.

Before another response could be made, the movie began.

"For the record, I would rather be in Ravenclaw," Elijah said, which prompted Poppy to give a victorious smile.

"I told you so!" she sung softly. Luca and Caroline rolled their eyes, but didn't say another word so that they wouldn't interrupt the movie.

Every once in a while they would make small commentary about the movie, but they were mostly silent as they ate their junk food that Elena dropped by earlier.

The third movie, however, was very different because everyone knew that this was when it started getting really good.

"Okay Eli," Poppy started, ignoring the look that she got for the nickname. "This is when it starts to get good. Draco fixes his hair so that it isn't gross and slicked back, Padfoot is introduced, Moony is introduced, Harry is still a completely and utterly adorable orphan, Hermione is badass, Ron is hilarious. This film is when it all gets awesome."

After her short little introduction, the film started and she could tell that Elijah was starting to get attached to the characters. She let herself laugh a little evilly in her mind, knowing how much it would obviously hurt him when everyone died. This made her feel a little bad for him, but at the same time, she felt like he deserved to feel this _real_ pain that Rowling made everyone feel…

This type of thing went on throughout the entirety of the films. Poppy was the only one who seemed to get tired at all, probably because the room was full of vampires and a warlock. She sighed. How come all of her friends got to be some type of awesome supernatural being, while she just sat around as some mundane human? She powered through, though by just having her twin make her coffee with cinnamon sprinkled in for taste.

It felt like no time passed until they reached the final film. When the perky blonde got up to change it, she turned around and looked at her friends – that is, if she truly considered Elijah to be her friend…

"Are you guys ready for the final film? The very best, out of the eight? The end of the magnificent war that good ole' JK created?" she asked dramatically. Everyone just rolled their eyes at her, which seemed to have happened a lot in the last day…

Without waiting for any more reply, Poppy put the disk in and ran back to her spot on the comfortable couch with her feet propped up on an ottoman, a blanket draped over her. The whole time, she had refused to touch Elijah, but at this point, she couldn't help herself from slightly leaning against him, just to get more comfortable. He didn't seem to notice, so Poppy let out the tiniest prayer of gratitude to whatever was out there.

Watching the movie, the four got excited when the good scenes were happening {AKA: all of them} and nearly cried when the sad scenes were happening {AKA: all of them}. Poppy was very pleased when she saw that Elijah had been doing this along with them. To think that before he was going to say no to her about doing this… She smirked to herself, but then turned her attention back to the movie.

When a few of the characters died, Elijah would mutter to himself about how unfair it was to so and so, or how some deaths weren't needed and could have easily been prevented.

Caroline had to admit that although at first she was very concerned about the Original, she sort of warmed up to him, knowing that it wouldn't really do much harm. She could see why Poppy said all that she did about him. He could be pretty frustrating, but at the same time, he wasn't terrible. Caroline forced herself to just give him the benefit-of-the-doubt for Poppy's sake, until he actually did something that deemed him untrustworthy.

* * *

Finally, the last movie ended and no one really knew what to do with themselves. Caroline looked at her phone to see that her mom texted her a little while ago asking when she would be home, so she excused herself and said her farewells to the group, with Luca following in her footsteps and leaving as well.

This left Poppy with Elijah and she turned to him, trying her best not to make this awkward.

"And then there were two," she said, smiling at him. To her surprise, he actually gave her a small smile back. She looked down at her hands that were subconsciously messing with a strand of her curly hair. "You know, after staying up that long, some caffeine would do me good. Could you take me to the Grill? I mean, if you have nothing else to do. I'm sure you have some type of crazy schedule with all of your vampire business and everything, but-"

Elijah interrupted her before she could do any more damage. "Come on, Poppy. I'll take you," he said.

She flashed him a smile and looked in a mirror quickly, making sure that she didn't look terrible after sitting and doing nothing for 24 hours. After putting her hair up in a high ponytail, she basically skipped out of the house, while the Original walked behind her, rolling his eyes, once again.

"Do you prefer coffee or tea?" she asked him when they were situated in the car. He'd come to expect questions like this, so he didn't bother to do anything but answer her.

"Tea, peppermint normally," he answered, not even thinking about it.

"Ah, I see… That's my favorite kind of tea, but I've always been more of a coffee person. With mountains of cinnamon added. I need it at least once a day or else I'll go completely insane. One of the reasons why I was acting crazy when you held me hostage with Luca and Jonas. Caffeine is what keeps me from getting locked up in an asylum or something," she explained, babbling as usual.

They reached their destination Poppy hopped out of the car and walked up to the cute little restaurant/café of Mystic Falls with Elijah following her. She smirked when she noticed how Elijah had actually taken a liking to her. Before, he used to just tell her 'no' whenever she asked something. Now, though, he would answer her without question and agree to have a Harry Potter marathon and take her to the Grill.

Maybe she _could_ call him her friend… Nope, that was still too weird.

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I know – a lot of Harry Potter stuff, but I can't help myself from being obsessed and I feel like Poppy would be as well. And I love writing all of this interaction between Poppy and Elijah – he's clearly warming up to her, and you should be expecting more of them hanging out together now that they've both pretty much accepted it…**

 **Please send me any feedback that you have! I love reading your reviews, you guys are awesome!**

 **~Alissa**


	9. Getting Close

It was about a week later, and Poppy and Elijah were sat in the Grill, the former drinking her cinnamon latte and the latter sipping on his tea. Every once in a while, Poppy would ask him some sort of question and he would answer, but for the rest of the time, they were just silent and enjoying the atmosphere. Well, the blonde was enjoying a bit more than just the atmosphere, but who knew what was going on in the Original's mind…

Now that she thought about it, Poppy truly didn't know much about the guy. She frowned as she studied his face. He was looking outside towards the park just across the street and didn't notice her curious and intense stare. She was still wondering about how he could possibly keep such a solid, cold poker face all the time. Taking a drink from her latte, she finally decided to break the silence.

"What are you thinking about right now?" she asked him.

He turned his head to look over at her before turning it back. "Always and forever…" he said quietly to himself, just loud enough for Poppy to hear.

She raised her eyebrows at him in question. "What's gotten you to thinking about that, exactly?" she asked, knowing the story about the promise that him, Rebekah and Niklaus had made so many years ago.

"Perhaps it's the inevitable doom of my brother… I can't help but remember the days where everything was much simpler," he explained to her. She frowned, but nodded, sort of knowing where he was coming from, what with all the crap that Elena had hid from her lately.

"So obviously you three were the closest." Poppy said, studying his face. He was currently refusing to look directly at her, which she didn't really like. He nodded though, continuing his stare at his tea. "What about Kol? And Finn, was it?"

He frowned and finally looked up towards her. "I've never mentioned either of them to you."

"Um… Of course you have, Elijah. How else would I know that Kol is practically a diagnosed bipolar on crack and Finn is a _real_ momma's boy?" Poppy asked, very confused. She bit her lip subconsciously as she looked at him.

Elijah's frown deepened when he heard this. How did this girl get any of this information? He told almost no one about his other siblings, them being such sore subjects. The thousand year old looked around the room making sure that no one there would over hear their conversation. Damon Salvatore was sat at the bar and hadn't seemed to notice them yet, so Elijah left some money on the table before dragging Poppy out with him.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, nearly tripping over her own feet as her short legs tried to keep up with his long ones.

"Elijah," she groaned in annoyance, looking back sadly to her mug that was sitting half full on the table. "Where are we going?"

"We're going to your house. I'm taking you back and there we can speak more about what you know," he answered. How was it that some ignorant teenage girl knew all of these things about him? Just a week ago, she had been nothing but an annoyance, but now Poppy was basically all that he could think about. What was it about this girl that made her so special?

Meanwhile, Poppy was trailing behind him wondering what exactly was going on. They hadn't exactly gotten _all_ of the information when they went to Jonas about her necklace… Perhaps there was something that he didn't say that related to this? She sighed when she realized that the day was a blur, especially since she found out that she wasn't a true Gilbert. If Elijah really hadn't told her anything about his two other brothers, then there had to be a reason why she still knew about them.

They both got into the car and Poppy looked towards the park with all of the happy children and couples out walking their dogs. Not too long ago, she was just as happy as they were. Just as clueless to the world around them. Just as blissfully unaware as they were now.

Poppy reached her hand up and started to mess with her necklace, tracing the 'P' softly with her index finger. The pendant was interesting in itself. It was flat metal and tear shaped, holding many imperfections that made everything work together for it to look old and be unique to any other piece like it. The 'P' itself was laid on top of that, leaving it to pop out a bit on the metal, one of the many reasons why she enjoyed tracing over it so much. All of the curves and dents and detailed marks on it only made Poppy love it more.

They finally arrived at her house after a very quiet ride, both of their minds full of questions to be answered.

Poppy entered the house and dragged Elijah upstairs to her room so they could talk without anyone {Elena} eavesdropping. She sat on her bed and Aurora immediately hopped on her lap, making her smile. Lately, she'd hardly been able to see her sweet little living creature. It seemed to be a side effect to spending time with thousand year old vampires.

"Poppy, what exactly do you know?" Elijah asked her once they were settled. She only shrugged in response. Honestly, she had no idea.

"I'm not sure, really. Ask me a question or something," she told him, now tearing her eyes from her cat and instead looking up at the man in front of her.

He paused for a moment before asking, "How many siblings do I have?"

"Six, two deceased and three unknown. The other one, being Niklaus." Poppy answered quickly without even needing to think about it. Her eyes widened when she heard what had come from her mouth. What the hell? How did she know this? She was certain that he hadn't told her about any of his siblings other than Niklaus and Rebekah…

Elijah frowned, but continued. "What are the names of my family, oldest to youngest?"

"Mikael, Esther, Freya, Finn, Elijah, Niklaus, Kol, Rebekah, and Henrik," she answered again. Poppy couldn't believe her own ears when she heard it. Her hands covered her mouth for a second, looking wide-eyed. How was this happening?

"Elijah? What exactly is happening to me?" Poppy asked, biting her lip nervously. He had a look of concentration on his face as he was trying to understand what was happening to the perky blonde in front of him.

"I have no idea…" he said. Then he turned away from her and walked around the room. The walls were white and so was almost everything else, but all of the throw pillows and picture frames and such were coral and mint green. Just above her light, unstained wooden headboard was a huge photo gallery, so full you couldn't see the paint on the wall, that went all the way to the ceiling. She had a window seat, completely covered in throw pillows, but still tasteful. In the corner of the room, Elijah could see a tower for the cat. The dresser was the only colored piece of furniture in the room, and it was light mint green, to subtly match with everything. In another corner was a desk that let you look out a window into the small town of Mystic Falls.

Poppy sighed and looked at her phone, already bored with this. Unfortunately, none of her friends seemed to be as bored as she was and found that there weren't any new messages. Wonderful.

"Hey Elijah?"

"Yes, Poppy,"

"If you could survive on any planet other than Earth, which planet would you want to live on?" she asked.

He frowned, thinking of all of the planets in the galaxy and stopped his snooping. He truly had no idea how this girl came up with these strange questions, but he'd learned from the past few days to just go along with it.

"Neptune, probably. It seems very quiet when comparing it to the rest. Not only that, but it's the furthest from all of the pointless nonsense that is happening on Earth," he said. She nodded. Honestly, she'd guessed that he would choose Neptune – he seemed very Neptuney in her opinion.

"Yeah, I thought you'd say Neptune. Personally, I'm more of a Venus girl," she told him. "Did you know, that even though it's second closest to the sun, it's still the hottest planet? That's because the atmosphere traps in the heat. It's sort of really badass."

Elijah chuckled. "You just called a planet badass, you do realize this, yes?"

Poppy rolled her eyes. "Whatever, dude, it's more badass than frigging _Neptune,"_ she said back to him, holding back her laughter as well. She dropped her back onto her bed, making her jump a little before staying on her comfortable mattress. Laying there, she turned her head over to Elijah who was to the right of her, still on the other side of the room, looking at her. "So, what exactly are we going to do about me? I mean, I don't really want to do anything _tonight,_ but should we, like, go back to Jonas and Luca's apartment next week? "

Elijah walked over and sat at the foot of the bed, right next to her. "Yes, it would be wise to meet with him again. We never did get all of our answers. Hopefully this next time we will be able to without you finding out any other important information that your sister just happened to withhold…" he said. Poppy rolled her eyes, but nodded her head in agreement.

"I hope for that as well, but who knows what else that idiot has up her sleeves? Next she's going to tell me that we're mermaids or something. Which would actually be pretty cool, other than the fact that she wouldn't have told me about it until then… But back to the topic, I wonder what's going on with me. There obviously has to be some type of connection between me and your family, and there has to be some reason why other people can't take off my necklace. I'm guessing so far that the necklace is what gave me the information about your family, because what else would? And I'm completely blank as to why it won't let anyone take it off. Maybe it was just sort of backing me up on it, or something. Like, it didn't want to be taken off because I didn't want it to be taken off, or something like that…" Poppy said, thinking out loud.

Elijah listened and actually considered most of what she was saying. He nodded and ran his hand through his hair, thinking. The blonde couldn't help herself from thinking about what an attractive look the messy hair was on him, but she chastised herself before she could think anything more.

"Perhaps you are actually correct about something…" he said quietly. Then he quickly turned his body towards her laying form. "I need you to let me take your necklace off. And don't resist whatsoever, in your thoughts or in your words or actions."

Poppy frowned, but she trusted him. The Original sitting in front of her had actually gained her trust – enough trust that she would be completely fine with her beloved necklace being in his hands. His beautifully sculpted and slightly calloused hands… Throughout all of the annoyance and kidnapping and playful arguing, something inside of Poppy made her want to trust him, so she did.

She sat up quickly on the edge of the bed. "Okay, go ahead. Take it," she said to him.

They were sitting quite closely next to each other now. Poppy couldn't help but notice, but she felt so strangely comfortable that she didn't say anything. Even feeling his breath on her skin didn't make her back away, though she knew that she probably should have. She vaguely noticed that he smelled of sandal wood, jasmine, and aftershave – a heavenly combination, in her personal opinion. So there they sat as Elijah's hands slowly reached up to the necklace. He had also noticed how close they were, but he couldn't deny at this point his feelings towards her. The girl had managed to connect with him in some way since she had burst into his life and he knew that she was obviously a friend of his now, but judging from this scene, anyone who walked in would have said otherwise – they might have even considered them to be _much_ more than friends.

Especially Aunt Jenna.

The door opened with a loud bang and Jenna entered, clearly not knowing of the company.

"Hey, Poppy, I was just wondering where you put my-" her words were cut off by her own surprise. The girl in question quickly scooted back, but not quick enough apparently because her aunt's eyebrows shot right up. "Whoa, hi there. Uh- this is sort of awkward, I'm gonna just go downstairs now… And leave the door open, while I'm at it."

Poppy blushed a deep red and Elijah held back a chuckle as she awkwardly tried to explain what had just happened to her aunt.

"Jenna, it was nothing. He's, like, ew. I'm grossed out you would even _think_ that, I mean… Yuck, no thanks, I'd rather not. We were so not doing what you may have thought we could have been doing, and therefore there isn't any reason in the first place for you to leave the door open – but I mean, you _could_ anyway because you will soon learn that we aren't doing anything. At all. Ever."

"I think she understands, Poppy," Elijah said before the girl could possibly say anything more than she already did. It seemed that him speaking, however, just made the blush grow darker. She ran a hand through her hair in frustration that her pale skin was unable to mask her embarrassment.

Jenna just watched the both of them and nodded slowly, crossing her arms across her chest. "Yeah, right… Whatever you two want to believe," she said with a wink, but then she turned over to Elijah. "I've heard that you are a bit of a history buff… I was thinking about going out on Thursday to look at some of the historical sights of Mystic Falls, if you want to come with. And I suppose since you two have been inseparable lately, Poppy you can come too."

Poppy glared over at her aunt. "We are _not_ inseparable…" she muttered under her breath, knowing that both would hear and no one would reply.

"Thank you for the offer, Ms. Sommers, I would be delighted to join you." Elijah said politely. Jenna smiled at him.

"Please, call me Jenna. And Poppy? I'm sure you'll be joining us…" she said to her niece. The blonde gave a warning glare to her aunt, but nodded.

"Yeah, why not?" she grumbled in reply.

Jenna smiled, ignoring Poppy's attitude. "So, what I was coming here to ask was where you put my black heels? You borrowed them two weeks ago or something," she said.

The blonde looked confused for a second, but then remembered. "Right, those are in my closet," she said as she got up to get them. Making her way back with the shoes she asked, "What do you need these for? Got a date or something?"

"If you must know, Ric and I are going out tonight. He's taking me to a French restaurant – yes, _French food,"_ she said excitedly.

"That really is how you know if a guy likes you or not – French is the real deal, Jenna." Poppy said to her, holding back her laughter. She handed her the shoes while pushing her out of the door. "Okay, have fun with Alaric! Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

Jenna laughed. "That goes for you too!" she said before waving goodbye to Elijah and leaving.

Poppy stood looking in the direction her aunt left at until the finally gathered her courage to look back to Elijah. The 1,057 year old Original vampire. The Original vampire who she sort of had a crush on _._ The Original vampire that she almost just _kissed._

She ran her hand through her hair for what must had been the tenth time in that situation and sighed. "So, um. I guess you could try again," she said to him. Then her eyes widened at how he might have taken this and tried to repair her words. "I mean, with the necklace… You can try with the necklace again. With, like, taking it off and stuff. Not with- um, okay yeah I think you know what I mean…"

Elijah wasn't able to hold back his chuckle now and shook his head before standing up next to her so he could try to take it off. When he touched the clasp again, the necklace itself seemed to be debating about whether or not to hurt him again, but it wasn't long before it started to sting and burn. He yanked his hand back and held it with his other one while Poppy looked up at him in concern.

"I take it that it still doesn't like you?" she asked, trying to lighten the mood. It seemed to have worked because his face relaxed at the sound of her voice.

"No, it does not… but I wonder if it would like a human more," he said to her. Poppy raised an eyebrow at him.

"Maybe it would. Or maybe it just really dislikes you in particular. I would totally understand it if that were the case, I mean, I don't even know how I consider you my _friend._ Yeah, that still sounds weird I don't like it…" she said, shaking her head and holding back a smirk.

Elijah rolled his eyes at her before walking out of the room, knowing she'd be quick to follow him.

"Elena, I know you are here," he said loudly. Sure enough, the girl walked out of the kitchen, her face showing nothing but fear.

"What do you want from me?" she asked, obviously trying to seem brave. It wasn't working out for her very well.

Poppy caught on to what he was trying to do. "Can you take my necklace off for me? I'm lazy and Elijah has been having… Problems, I guess you could say," she said. This only confused the older twin, but she obliged, reaching up to take it off. Before she could, the clasp burned her as well. She pulled her hand back and held it to her chest, very confused as to what had just happened.

The Original frowned. "Interesting. Thank you for your time."

"What? So, you aren't going to give me any reason why this just happened or anything?" she asked.

Poppy put on a fake 'thinking face,' teasing her sister with a finger on her chin. "You know? I don't think so. And before you say anything about it not being fair, remember that you were the one who completely shut me out of most of your life for about a year."

With that, Poppy left, dragging Elijah behind her.

"So I guess it effects everyone… For some reason, my necklace is spazzing… And we won't find out why for the next few days, probably, because knowing Luca, he'll be busy, and I honestly don't want to go over there with just you and Jonas... No offense, but that just doesn't seem like a good time. We can't go on Thursday either because of Jenna. So maybe the next day? Jeez, my schedule has been really full lately. Maybe I need to start a planner. I don't think I'd keep up with it, though…" she babbled quietly to herself.

"I will inform Jonas, but until then I'm sure you have some catching up with school, yes?" he said to her.

Poppy only rolled her eyes. "Please, I could teachmy classes. Doing homework at home is for the weak. And why would I waste my time doing that when I could be watching Grey's Anatomy instead?"

Elijah sighed. "I'm sure that this is yet another one of your shows that you enjoy?"

"Elijah, this isn't just another show _._ This is _the_ show. I could watch Alex Karev save babies' lives all day, every day. He's like a teddy bear, it's adorable," she said, smiling a little at the thought of the show. Her friends would make fun of her because all of the shows that she watched, but she honestly couldn't care less.

"What else do you do with your time, other than watch television?" he asked her. She gave him a glare, but didn't really mean it.

"I read. I read a lot. Shakespeare, Poe, Dickinson, you name it. I finished Les Misérables by the ninth grade. 1,463 pages. I am brilliant," she said to him, smirking.

He raised his eyebrows. "And not at all modest. However, it is impressive. Throughout my time in the 1600's, I was able to meet William Shakespeare. I suggest that you don't meet your idols, and I speak from experience." Elijah said.

Poppy couldn't believe her own ears. "You freaking _met_ Shakespeare? Are you kidding me? Damn, consider me jealous… I was definitely born in the wrong century. But I'm guessing that it didn't go well? Considering that you believe it isn't a good idea to meet your idols, it can't have been good."

"Let's just say that he's much more articulate in writing than in speech," he said in his classy way. "It was rather disappointing. However, he still was incredibly intelligent. Thankfully, none of my siblings ever got to him – Kol had always had a… _taste_ for the theatre."

Poppy grimaced at the image that came up. "Yeah, okay, I get it. It wouldn't have been pretty. Either way, I don't only watch movies and television. It's just that I normally have nothing better to do with my time. But I guess that since you kidnapped me-"

"Must I remind you that I didn't kidnap you? That was a desperate act of forgiveness by two fools."

"Whatever. Ever since _they_ kidnapped me, I've had more to do. But all of this talk about old English writers is making me want to read, I must say. I have three copies of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare, if you'd like to join me…" she suggested, smiling and knowing the answer before he even opened his mouth.

He gave her a small smile in return. "I'd be delighted."

* * *

 _ **Awww I can't deal with how adorable this is getting, even though I'm the one who's writing it… They're becoming pretty close friends, so who knows how Poppy will react when the stupid Scooby Gang daggers Elijah? The next chapter will consist of Jenna, Elijah, Poppy, and Alaric all exploring the historical sights of Mystic Falls, so that will be very fun as well.**_

 _ **You're getting a taste of my juicy subplot as well! It will be a while until all of those answers are revealed, but until then you can search for the clues I'm dropping everywhere – some very obvious, and others not so much.**_

 _ **This chapter is probably my favorite out of all of them. Although it's shorter, it's still really cute and has a lot of Elipy interaction and just a bunch of small moments. I'm still trying to figure out a celebrity to match the Poppy in my mind, so send me names of actresses you think would fit her well!**_

 _ **Please review, as I do**_ **love** _ **reading them very much! Thank you for all of the feedback I've gotten!**_

 _ **Until next time!**_

 _ **~Alissa**_


	10. Meeting of Historical Minds

Three days later, Poppy found herself in school, once again tapping her pencil impatiently as she waited for the last bell to ring for the day. There were rumors going around about her and Elijah, though no one really knew who he was – all that the students of Mystic Falls High School needed was to see the popular girl entering the car of an attractive man who was new to town. She honestly didn't mind, and she knew there was a lot of talk, especially since he'd been her ride home every day that week.

The school bell rang, dismissing all of the students and Poppy held herself back from jumping for joy. She was excited to leave, to put it lightly.

She rushed out of the classroom and all eyes were on her, yet again, when she got into the car that pulled in front of her. Elijah greeted her with a small smile.

"Good afternoon, Poppy."

Immediately, she smiled back. "Hiya." The blonde looked towards a perplexed Caroline who was standing in front of the school doors, staring at them and obviously concerned. Poppy gave her a smile and a thumbs up. She turned back to Elijah. "Okay, Mikaelson. Take me away from this place known as hell."

Elijah rolled his eyes at her, but sped away to the place where they would be meeting with Jenna.

"So I'm guessing you'll be acting like you've never seen any of this? After all, Jenna still doesn't know about this world we're all tied up in…" she said, looking over at him.

"Yes, that is the plan. Though I may show off a bit of my knowledge," he said. Then he looked over at her. Today she was wearing dark burgundy jeans with a thin white sweater and black knee-high boots. He frowned. "It's quite cold today, are you sure you don't want to pick up a coat before we leave?"

Poppy gave him a weird look before she smiled. "Awe, is Elijah worried about my wellbeing? That's so sweet. And I suppose a coat would be good, but I can just text Jenna," she told him. She then sent a short message to her aunt before turning again to the Original. "So, what did you do today? Wreak havoc amongst the town? Kill Damon Salvatore? Oh, _please_ tell me you killed Damon Salvatore…"

Elijah chuckled, but shook his head. "Unfortunately, that was not on today's agenda. However, I spoke with Jonas about meeting with him tomorrow. He agreed that we can go right when you get off of school. Other than that, I ran a few errands that I'm sure you wouldn't approve of, what with all of the humanity in your personality."

The young girl nodded. She couldn't argue with that. "Nice, okay. Elena and Stefan are off at this Lake House, thank goodness. I don't want to deal with her pouty annoying face anymore – that girl has officially gotten on my last nerve. She keeps pummeling me with texts. 'Poppy, don't get into trouble!' 'Poppy, don't eat my ice cream!' 'Poppy, don't hang out with Elijah!' 'Poppy he's dangerous!' I swear, if she texts me again, I'm going to turn into a vampire myself just so that I can rip her head off," she said, rolling her eyes. "I mean, seriously? You hardly even count as dangerous. You literally have the same exact goal as them – getting rid of Niklaus. Plus, don't you two have some type of agreement?"

Elijah nodded at the last question, mostly ignoring the middle details. "Yes, we do. I'm not sure why she's so unsure about trusting me when I have been put in many positions where I could easily kill anyone in your family."

He slowed the car down at a small area that showed where one of the old estates began.

"We should probably put this discussion on hold, however. Your aunt should be here soon and she said to meet her by the sign," he said as he got out of his seat.

Before she knew it, Poppy's door was open for her and Elijah was holding it. She smiled and hopped out of the car. "Thank you," she said, walking over to the sign. She hadn't even noticed how cold it was that day until he brought it up in the car, but now that was all that she felt.

Whenever she exhaled, she could see her breath. "You know, I normally love autumn and winter. I loathe spring, and I never really liked the heat of summer. I have Swedish genes somewhere in my family history, and I was born for this kind of weather. However, I really am not enjoying it right now." Poppy said. Elijah sighed at her complaining.

"This was why I said it would be a good idea to pick up your coat rather than wait for it," he said in his know-it-all voice. Or at least that was what Poppy thought about it. She rolled her eyes at him and hugged herself, trying to keep warm. "I would offer my coat, but I could only imagine what Jenna would say. Especially after what she thought she saw earlier this week."

Poppy groaned dramatically, throwing her head back. "Don't even remind me of what happened earlier this week – or yesterday, we will _definitely_ not talk about what happened yesterday. We can temporarily put that to the side and come back to it when we _aren't_ about to meet my aunt," she told him firmly.

"Agreed," he said, smirking at her.

The blonde was incredibly grateful when she heard her aunt pull up in her car. She rushed up to her and opened the door herself, holding it for Jenna.

"You have my coat, right?" she asked quickly. Her aunt laughed, but nodded and handed her the black trench coat. "Thank God you came. It is freezing out here. And Elijah couldn't very well offer me his coat due to what you might think of it. But, I am warmish now, so thanks for bringing that."

Jenna laughed at her niece's rambling. "Okay, Poppy," she said, shaking her head. Then she turned to Elijah who had walked up while the two were having their exchange.

"Hello, Jenna," he greeted, smiling at her.

"Hey Elijah." Jenna said, returning the smile.

"Alright, enough greetings, I'm getting bored. Let's go see some history," Poppy said, turning around and going towards the well-walked trail that the town had made. Then she paused and frowned. "Wait, that was such an oxymoron…"

Elijah chuckled and Jenna rolled her eyes.

"Not all history is boring, Poppy," Elijah said. She scoffed and turned back to look at him, slowing her pace so they could walk next to each other. "You were telling me only the other day that you were a fan of old literature. All of it contains history through the dusty pages."

"How poetic," she teased.

Jenna watched this exchange and had to hold back laughter. It was so obvious that the two liked each other – it was like they were dancing around each other, waiting for something to change the tempo. She wanted to meddle, but she knew that it wouldn't do them any good. However, she couldn't hold it in anymore when she saw that the two were nearly matching.

The two turned their heads to look at her.

"What's funny?" Poppy asked her aunt. She collected herself.

"You two are practically color coordinated, I mean how did you even do that?" she said, confusing the two even more.

When the blonde looked down at herself, then over to the Original she gasped, then groaned. "Oh my god, she's right. I literally want to jump off a cliff right now," she said, only being a little bit dramatic. She really wasn't pleased with this, at all.

Elijah let out a small chuckle. "How unfortunate…" he said.

"You're like that annoying couple that always match their outfits up," Jenna said, laughing still. Poppy turned her glare to her aunt, and this time it was threatening enough for her to actually collect herself. "Okay, sorry. That was a bit far, but this is still hilarious. Sorry, let's just keep walking.

The blonde crossed her arms and switched her glares back and forth between the two. She regretted putting herself between them and sighed. Then she turned to Elijah.

"For some reason, I think that _matching_ isn't helping us very much with making her believe that nothing is happening," she said under her breath, knowing he'd hear. He looked down at her.

"You would think that it would be rather easy to convince her, since there isn't anything happening in the first place," he said quietly. Then he looked forward and put his hands in his pockets casually. "And there isn't, is there?"

Poppy sighed and ran her hand through her hair angrily. "We'll talk about this later," she snapped, sounding a little ruder than she really meant.

"The old Fell property actually starts just beyond that fence," Jenna interrupted, not aware that she was interrupting anything in the first place.

"Ah, the Fells. One of the 'Founding Families,'" Elijah said, smirking. Poppy rolled her eyes, knowing that this was the part where he would be 'showing off a bit of his knowledge.'

"Why do you say it like that?" Jenna asked, frowning.

"My research-" Poppy held herself back from chuckling. "-showed me that this area was actually settled almost two full centuries earlier. It was a migration of townsfolk from the northeast. It was Salem, to be precise."

"Massachusetts? As in the witch trials?" she asked, very interested. Meanwhile, Poppy played with a small lock of hair, only half listening to the conversation.

"Which means that the ever lauded founding families… They didn't actually found anything." Elijah finished. Poppy was pulled from her thoughts at that statement.

"Seriously? So I'm guessing that it was just a bunch of testosterone-y men who just decided that they were the founders out of nowhere," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Men _are_ very territorial…" Jenna said, nodding.

"Yes, they are," Elijah said, noticing the one and only Alaric Saltzman walking up to them. Poppy and Jenna both turned their heads to see him. Jenna tensed up a bit and bit her lip awkwardly.

"Elijah, this is my… friend. Alaric Saltzman," she said. Poppy rolled her eyes, knowing very well that they were more than _friends_ by now.

"Yeah, I got your message about walking Elijah and Poppy here through the old property lines. I thought I would tag along. You know, being a history buff and all. Where to next?" Alaric said.

Poppy raised her eyebrows, knowing that her teacher was definitely there for more than just the history. The idiot was feeling threatened by _Elijah._ She held back her laughter and turned to the Original. They exchanged a look of mutual understanding for a moment before turning back to the couple, who were both very confused as to what just happened.

"I'm pretty curious about the freed slave property owners," Elijah said, turning the conversation back to what they were there for. "Some say, you know, the descendants of the slaves are the true keepers of American history."

"Well, I only brought the surveys," Jenna said. "I've got that list in the car. Just give me a sec."

With that, she left. Poppy took a deep breath and looked down at her shoes, knowing that this would be a tense moment.

"Alaric Saltzman," Elijah began. "So you're one of those people on Elena's list of loved ones to protect."

"So is Jenna. And Poppy." Ric replied.

"You don't have to be jealous," he said. "I don't really pursue most younger women."

Poppy snorted, not very ladylike, but the look that Ric gave him was priceless. Then she froze, realizing he said 'most.'

Ric didn't seem to be as amused as Poppy was.

"It's a joke, Ric, lighten up." Elijah said, patting him on the back and walking away. Poppy followed him, not really having anything else to do.

"Right," was the last that they heard Ric say before they continued walking out of earshot.

She turned to look at him. "That was hilarious, first of all," she said, smiling. "I never imagined my history teacher to be the jealous type, but seeing it in action is absolutely _amazing._ And second, I am for the very first time since I've met you, completely disappointed with your fashion choices. Well, I mean, you still look nice and it's definitely your color, it's just that I'm upset that we both chose the same exact day to wear frigging burgundy."

Elijah chuckled at her. "Yes, it is certainly something to be upset about. Meanwhile, children are starving off in Africa…" he said, teasing her. Poppy rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"Whatever. And I totally heard you when you said that you don't pursue _most_ younger women." With that, she winked at him and walked away towards her aunt who was talking with Ric.

"Hey, so where are we going next again?" she asked. Jenna raised her eyebrows.

"Uh, slave quarters," she said, then she basically targeted in on Poppy. "But first, you're going to tell me why Elijah is ogling at you right now."

The blonde smirked to herself, but shook her head. "I'll tell you later," she said quietly. Then she turned to face the boys. "Let's go see some slave quarters."

* * *

When they were almost done with the tour, Alaric left to work on something and they continued, but it wasn't long before they were finished.

"Would you two want to go to the Grill? I'm getting a bit hungry." Jenna suggested.

"That sounds amazing, actually. I do need my daily dosage of macaroni and cheese," Poppy said, laughing at herself. The other two chuckled with her, and they began on their way back to the cars.

"So what did you study in college, Jenna?" Elijah asked, making conversation.

"Psychology," she said. "But I'm a realtor. In case you didn't know, it's sort of difficult to get a career with a degree in psychology… Almost as hard as an English degree, like Poppy is leaning towards."

The girl in question rolled her eyes. "Shut up, Jenna..." she turned to Elijah. "I want to be a photographer, and be able to write along with it. I know how to use all of my equipment, so there's no reason why I should take classes in that. And being a photo journalist would be amazing, so that's what I'm choosing to do. Mixing my hobbies to make a career."

Elijah nodded. "I've always enjoyed the idea that I can freeze a moment in time and keep it with me as an image."

She smiled. "That's exactly why I got into it. It's like my personal super power – I can store my memories, whichever ones I want, however I choose."

Jenna nodded awkwardly and walked to her car. "Okay, I guess I'll see you guys soon."

"See ya, Jenna."

With that, they drove off to the Grill.

"You humans go to this place so often, but I still can't seem to understand the interest." Elijah said, shaking his head as they pulled up. Poppy rolled her eyes.

"Elijah, it isn't about the food, it's all about the atmosphere. This is where you go if you want to hear gossip about other people, or create gossip. It's quite possibly the most magical place in Mystic Falls, which is saying something because this place is crawling with witches…" she explained.

The Original chuckled at her and Jenna came up to them and they walked in together.

Entering, they saw Alaric, Damon, and Andie all sat together. Jenna took the front and decided to walk towards them, making Poppy groan.

"Hey, guys." Jenna greeted.

"Ew, the ugliest Salvatore brother is here." Poppy said, glaring at Damon.

"Ew, the ugliest Gilbert twin is here." Damon countered.

"How original, asshole," she snapped back. He rolled his eyes and waved it off. She gave him a sneer and he turned his attention back to the other two.

"So I hear you two had quite a meeting of historical minds today."

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." Jenna said.

"Well, as much as I'd like to continue this, I've got papers to grade," Alaric said, putting down some money and trying to get away from the situation.

"No, you know what?" Andie, Damon's current blood-toy said. "We should continue this. Let's have a dinner party."

Damon smiled at her and Poppy rolled her eyes. "Oh, my girl. Full of good ideas. I'll be happy to host. Say tonight. Maybe?"

"It's good for me. Jenna?" Andie said, turning to the girl in question.

"I don't know if tonight works…" Alaric said.

"Yeah, I'm free." Jenna said, smiling tightly and giving Alaric a look.

"It'd be a pleasure." Elijah added.

"I'm in, I guess…" Poppy said, crossing her arms.

"Great." Damon said with a smile that was obviously just for show.

"Wonderful. Now I'm gonna go sit over there so I don't have to be in your annoying presence anymore," she said, glaring at the vampire.

"Please, I am in no means stopping you." Damon replied. He easily returned the glare.

She turned and found a small table that was _far_ away from Damon's and sat in one of the two seats. It wasn't long until she was joined by none other than Elijah. She smiled at him and patiently waited for someone to come to take their order.

"You do realize that everyone's staring at us, right?" Poppy asked him, looking around the room as the town couldn't seem to take their eyes off of them.

"Yes, I am aware," he said in a bored tone, obviously not caring whatsoever.

Poppy finally found a target – an annoying girl from her school named Taylor – and glared at her. "Would you like us to take a picture? I'm sure it would last longer," she snapped.

This seemed to snap everyone out of it and they all went on to enjoying their own meals.

Elijah couldn't seem to stop his laughter at her small outburst and he shook his head. "You can be very amusing, even when you are in no means trying to be," he told her. She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I know. I'm great. I've been told this many times, believe me," she said, smirking.

"You really must learn to be more modest," he told her, frowning.

"Please – I'm allowed to be full of myself because everything that I say is completely true." Poppy said, smiling to show to him that she was joking. She then nodded her head towards the table that they were at only minutes ago. "Whereas Damon, he's just an arrogant asshole who thinks that he's better than everyone on the planet, when we all know that this is not true in any way."

She looked over at the table, knowing he had been eavesdropping. The vampire was, in fact, looking their way and glaring at them. He then shouted, "I may be arrogant, but at least I'm not a selfish brat."

She smirked over at him and shouted back, purposely trying to make a scene, knowing that it would take a bit of the gossip away from her and Elijah. "Hmm… I've heard it both ways."

In her mind, she did a self-five. _That was smooth as hell._ She couldn't even help but voice this thought.

"Damn, I am smooth. That is basically the best comeback ever, I don't care what anyone says," she said to no one in particular.

The waiter finally arrived and they both ordered small meals, wanting to save room for the dinner party that was going to be held later that evening.

"You know, I'm not so sure about that dinner party…" Poppy voiced her concerns. She bit her lip nervously. "I mean, I get that you're practically immortal, but still I can't help but think that they have a motive. I'm really doubting if the idea was even Andie's in the first place – they probably just compelled her to say it so that it would be more subtle. And honestly, I don't want you to die. You've come to be good company, strangely enough."

Elijah rolled his eyes. "The Salvatore brothers are not bold enough for a move like that. I also have a deal in place with Elena. She wouldn't back out of it, especially when it involves protecting her loved ones," he said.

Poppy nodded, but still frowned. "You wouldn't ever actually kill any of my family, would you?" she asked, a little uncomfortable in her seat. "I mean, I know you have a much… _different_ relationship with Elena, but I still wonder. I can trust you, right?"

Elijah frowned, but locked eyes with her. For some reason, he had been avoiding telling her about the sacrifice. He knew that it would make her upset and somehow this girl had a hold on him, and he didn't want her to let go.

"In order for us to kill Niklaus, we have to let him complete the ritual to destroy the Sun and the Moon Curse. After that, when he is changing and is most vulnerable, we will kill him. Elena agreed that she would comply, as long as each and every person on the list she had given me remained completely unharmed in the process."

She didn't quite understand what he was saying, but knew that whatever it was, she wouldn't like it at all.

"Poppy, Elena has to be sacrificed for the curse to break," he said to her, simplifying it.

Her jaw dropped as she looked at him and her eyes widened. "Seriously? She agreed to do this?" she asked, just to make sure. She didn't want to believe that her sister, her twin, was going to die.

"Yes, she did."

"Why would she do that? That girl – she thinks that she's being brave, but it's really the opposite," she said, looking down at her lands that were sitting on the table. "I don't blame you for anything, I blame my idiot sister. Technically, this isn't your fault. But I need to know. If she goes off and does something crazy, will you kill anyone in my family to hurt her? Or can I trust you not to?" she asked him, now looking in his eyes. They were truthful and old – they had seen things that people had only read about in history books. They were magnificent.

"If it comes to it, I will find a loophole. I apologize for not saying anything about this arrangement sooner," he said. Poppy nodded.

"It's fine, I get why you wouldn't mention it – it's sort of a tough subject to bring up," she said.

Their food arrived as well as Poppy's latte and now she was very thankful to have it. She quickly grabbed the mug and took a huge drink of it, sort of burning her tongue, but not really caring at the same time because she was just thankful for the cinnamon that was now spreading through her body.

"You know, I'm surprised you hadn't noticed how obsessed I am with photography earlier. I've had my camera out while you've been with me before. And in case you weren't aware, I _have_ taken pictures of both of us," she said. He only shrugged.

"I was aware of that, I only assumed it was a hobby. But the art of photography is truly wonderful. It's amazing how it has grown throughout the years. Centuries ago, you had to pose for hours while waiting for someone to paint you on a canvas, but now you can simply press a button and the job will be done."

Poppy nodded and took another drink of her latte. As she thought about their previous topic, something hit her.

"If Elena is stupid, you can just kill Damon," she said, trying to be quiet, but pleased with herself at the same time. "No one likes him except for her and Stefan, but he will get over it and she will take a while to recover. It's basically brilliant."

Elijah chuckled at her. "You seem to have a lot of enthusiasm when talking about killing someone," he said.

Poppy rolled her eyes. "No, I have a lot of enthusiasm when talking about killing _Damon,"_ she corrected, smirking.

Then they ate their meals, talking about whatever came to mind.

* * *

 _ **This chapter was very fun to write, I must say. Poppy's flirting is on point, and Elijah basically has no idea what to do about it – it's pretty great ;) And I'm sure you all know what happens during/after the dinner party, so you guys will be able to see how Poppy reacts. Also, what happened 'yesterday'? You'll find out eventually, but I'm being evil for the time being and not telling you. Just thought I should include that in my little notey thing for those who were a bit confused. As I go throughout the story, I will include small flashbacks that are sort of one-shot type of things where they're just being cute, and that will probably be one of them.**_

 _ **xKittyPetrovax3: Thank you for all of the suggestions! I'm not sure why, but I always sort of pictured someone like Annasophia Robb to be Poppy – with her Carrie Bradshaw hair, of course. So I'm officially declaring that Poppy's celebrity look alike is Annasophia Robb, which is very exciting!**_

 _ **Thank you for reading! Please send in some feedback, I love all of it!**_

 _ **~Alissa**_


	11. Departing

"Yes, Elijah is taking me to the dinner party," Poppy said, rolling her eyes as she had to repeat herself once again. "No, it is not a date."

Caroline shook her head. "Yeah, sure it isn't."

"If it even was a date, which it isn't, it would be a really shitty one because my aunt, history teacher, and Damon Salvatore would be there. Something tells me that it would be way too awkward to even consider it as anything close to that – plus, this is Elijah we're talking about here. He has more common sense than to have a first date be a dinner party at his frigging enemies' house," she said. "Not to mention that we aren't like that in the first place…"

Currently, she was picking out a nicer dress for the evening. Weighing the pros and cons of many, she decided going with a simple silk dark forest green dress. It was an A-line and pleated at the waist. She found a black faux fur coat and put it on over, knowing that it would be even colder outside than it was before.

"Poppy, I'm just not getting what you see in the guy. He's supposed to be evil or something, right? Isn't he trying to have Elena killed?" Caroline asked her. The blonde sighed at this, knowing that this was something the entire Scooby-gang was thinking.

"No, he's not trying to kill Elena. She made that decision herself. Apparently, she thinks that she's being noble by doing this for all of us, which is totally unnecessary – I bet that there would be another way around it if anyone tried, but I think they just keep getting bored before they get any real answers and move on to the next thing. And seriously? Elijah is not evil. If anything, he's a little angel child compared to the rest of his siblings. Wait till we meet them – which will happen eventually, of course. To think otherwise would just be illogical."

"Okay, whatever Poppy. I have to admit that he wasn't as terrible as I thought he was when we had the marathon, but that doesn't stop the fact that he's a killer."

"And so are you. And Stefan. And Damon. And basically everyone else in this damn town," she countered. It was a low blow, but she knew it would work. She could imagine her friend closing her eyes for a moment and steadying her breathing as she composed herself.

"I guess that there isn't anything that I can say to stop you at this point. Just… stay safe? For me, please. Just stay safe," she said.

Poppy smiled at her phone. "Of course. If anyone causes any problems, I'll kick 'em where it hurts."

"Yeah, okay. Bye Poppy, I'll see you soon, hopefully!"

"See you, Care."

With that, she hung up and went back to her shoe choices, tapping her finger on her chin while deciding what would match best.

It wasn't long before she was completely ready and on her way out the door. Jenna was getting a ride from Ric and had left a while before her. As she waited for Elijah to arrive, she sat at the swinging bench on their porch and twisted a curl in her finger. It was pulled back on both sides in bobby pins, and the rest was down in its natural curl.

She finally heard the sound of his car pulling up and she stood up. "You're precisely on time, as always. You really know how to manage your time, don't you?" she said, smiling as he walked up.

He was dressed in his suit, as usual, and stuck with his burgundy shirt and simple grey tie. "Managing time comes when you have an unlimited amount of it, Poppy. And you look stunning this evening, of course." Elijah said, now standing in front of her. She took a step closer to him and smirked inwardly, now knowing the obvious effect she had on him. She heard his breathing go uneven before he corrected it.

"Thank you, Elijah. Shall we go?"

With a nod, he led the way to the car and opened her door for her before going to his own.

"At least we aren't matching again - that was a nightmare." Poppy said as she buckled her seatbelt.

"That it was..." Elijah said sarcastically. She punched him {not very hard, mind you} on the arm.

"I hope we can learn more about what I am tomorrow. I still can't believe all of this - a month ago, vampires were a myth. Now, I'm friends with a weird Original with way too much class for his own good, and all of my friends are some type of supernatural being. And I'm still angry with Elena for not telling me about our birth parents. That was just a bit uncalled for..." she said, crinkling her nose and frowning at the thought of her sister.

Elijah looked over at her for a moment and sighed. How was it that he had become 'friends' with this annoying human? And while she would always be annoying, he admitted to enjoying the company of the perky, charming teenager. He wasn't sure what exactly it was about her that made him so enthralled in her, but it was certainly there.

"I know that I'm quite the image, but there's no need for you to gawk at me," Poppy said, smirking. He had in fact been 'gawking' at her, but he didn't seem to be aware of it whatsoever.

He turned back to the road and they soon arrived at the Boarding House after a bit of small-talk.

As usual, he opened her door for her and they walked towards the entrance of the Salvatore Dwelling. Before he knocked, Poppy stopped him.

"Elijah wait," she said quickly. He froze and turned to her. Poppy made sure to keep her voice as low as possible, knowing how many ears there were that could be listening. "If there's any trouble, we both get out of there as quick as possible. And you have to take me with you because I swear if you leave me behind I will beat the shit out of you with my tiny fists. Got it?"

Elijah failed at holding back a small smile and nodded. "Deal," he said before knocking on the door. It was opened to reveal the one and only: Damon Salvatore. "Good evening."

"Thank you for coming," Damon replied. He turned to Poppy. "Gilbert."

"Salvatore," she sneered at him, glaring. The vampire easily returned the glare, but then turned back to Elijah and put on a fake 'welcome' face.

"Please, come in," he said.

Elijah looked over at Poppy and noticed the concerned look on her face, remembering the deal he had just made with her. "Just one moment," he said, turning his view back to the eldest Salvatore brother. "Can I just say that if you have less than honorable intentions about how this evening is going to proceed, I suggest you reconsider."

Poppy rolled her eyes at his formal way of putting it. "In other words, if you try to do anything even more ass-ish than the usual tonight, he's going to rip your heart out. Literally. Which I honestly wouldn't mind seeing."

Damon put his hands up in surrender. "No, no. Nothing dishonorable. Just getting to know you."

Elijah furrowed his eyebrows, while Poppy full-on glared. She knew something bad was going to happen - it was a feeling she'd had since they were invited to this thing.

"Hmm... Well, that's good," the Original said as he walked into the house. Poppy stuck to his side. He stopped and turned back towards Damon. "Because, you know, although Elena and I have this deal, if you so much as make a move to cross me, I'll kill you and everyone in this house-"

"Except for Jenna," Poppy said quickly, raising an eyebrow at him as he hesitated for a moment, then continued.

"Except for Jenna. Are we clear?"

"Crystal," Damon said as his eyes glistened with something Poppy already recognized as a bad sign. She bit her lip and frowned, but she was distracted when she heard Elijah greeting her aunt.

"Jenna. Wonderful to see you again. How are you?" he asked charmingly. The blonde rolled her eyes and Jenna smiled in response.

"Nice to see you," she replied.

Poppy took her coat off and left it on the hanger that stood by the door, then moved to the action.

"Wow, I love that dress on you, Jenna! Remind me - who picked it out?" Poppy asked, smirking.

"Be quiet Poppy. Thank you for your impeccable fashion decisions," Jenna teased, smiling.

"You do look incredible," Elijah said as they were led to the dining room.

Poppy subconsciously grabbed onto Elijah's arm, not wanting to let him go, and prepared herself for the dinner ahead.

* * *

The seven people sat together, eating their meal and laughing as they conversed with one another.

Jenna poured Damon some wine and looked at him as she spoke. "I hate to break it to you, Damon, but according to Elijah, your family is not a founder of this town."

Damon raised his eyebrows and sat back in his chair, crossing his arms. "Hmm... Do tell."

Elijah was sat back in his chair, like everyone else at this point, and looked bored. Poppy completely understood why, because she was positive that she dozed off at some point in the evening.

"Well, as I mentioned to Jenna and Poppy earlier, a faction of settlers migrated from Salem after the witch trials in the 1690's. Over the next hundred years they developed this community where they could feel safe from prosecution," he explained. Poppy actually paid attention at this point, knowing that he knew this all from experience, rather than his 'research.'

"Hmm..." Jenna said, very interested in the current topic. "Because they were witches."

Andie cut in, "Yeah, but there's no tangible proof they were witches."

Damon put on a fake smile and patted Andie's hand 'affectionately'. Poppy didn't believe it for one minute. "Andie's a journalist. Big on facts."

"Well, the lore says that there was this wave of anti-witch hysteria," Elijah explained. "It broke out in the neighboring settlement, so these witches were rounded up. They were tied to stakes in a field together and burned. Some say you could hear the screams from miles around us. They were consumed by the fire."

"Lovely," Poppy said, but her frown said otherwise. She had never been squeamish about death or blood, but the witch trials always seemed to give her chills.

"I wouldn't repeat this to the Historical Society," Jenna said, smirking.

"It's starting to sound a little like a ghost story," John said. This made Poppy tense even more - Elena told her about their father, and she almost forgot that he was even there. She didn't like the idea of John, especially when he was a threat to all of the vampires in the town - all of her friends.

"So, why do you want to know the location of these alleged massacres?" Damon asked with the permanent mischievous look in his eyes.

Elijah shrugged casually, although the room was obviously tense. "You know... A healthy historian's curiosity, of course."

"Of course," the vampire said. Poppy locked her jaw and rolled her eyes. This was going to be a very long evening.

* * *

Not long after, Damon got up from his seat.

"Would anyone care from some cognac? I have a bottle that I've been saving for ages," he said.

"None for me, thanks," Alaric said. "Nine bottles of wine is my limit."

Everyone else got up regardless, and Damon looked pointedly at Andie. Poppy frowned at the clear exchange that was happening between the two - this was not going to be good...

"The gentlemen should take their drinks in the study," Andie suggested.

Elijah smiled politely. "I have to say the food was almost as wonderful as the company," he said charmingly. Poppy held back a snort of laughter, which quickly turned into a glare at the next comment from the blood-toy.

"I like you," Andie said. The blonde didn't like the flirty tone, even if Elijah wasn't technically even close to being anything like a 'boyfriend' she couldn't help but want to sort of rip her hair out of her scalp.

Jenna turned over to John and glared at him, handing him plates. "Here you are, gentleman, make yourself useful. Hmm?"

He rolled his eyes, but took the plates anyway. Poppy looked at them and smirked at his immediate obligation. Jenna can be scary when she wants to be. She then turned over to Elijah.

"And this is where we part," she said, smiling. "Remember what I told you earlier - see you soon, idiot."

"Okay, Poppy."

With that, she left into the kitchen along with Jenna and Andie. She couldn't help but silently think about how incredibly sexist this was, but ignored it and chatted with Jenna while they were clearing the table.

"What's up with you and Ric lately?" she asked.

Her aunt seemed a bit hesitant about how to answer this. She bit her lip as she thought. "John told me something - I really want to believe it's not true, but why would he lie to me in the first place?"

Poppy nodded. "Whatever it's about, I'm sure he'll just tell you about it when he's ready. There has to be a reason why he hasn't told you by now. Anyway, since when has John given out reliable information?"

Jenna smiled. "You make everything seem so simple. It's very refreshing."

"Well, that's what I'm here for." She smiled back.

Andie suddenly came into the room. "Ladies - we've completely forgotten dessert! Poppy, do you want to come with me to collect the gentlemen in the study?"

She held herself back from rolling her eyes once again, but nodded and made her way to the other room.

Alaric walked with them and opened the door first. "Gentlemen, we forgot about dessert."

Andie walked over to Damon and stayed by his side, and they didn't seem to mind PDA very much because they had a very intense kiss, which no one appreciated.

Poppy exchanged a look with Elijah and they both rolled their eyes simultaneously. She put on a fake smile. "Elijah," she said as she held a hand out for him.

"Poppy," he said, handing his glass to Damon, who was no longer lip-locked with his blood-toy.

He walked over to where she was standing, took her hand and spun her around, making her laugh as they walked out of the door together.

"I've gotta say, you are much more fun after a few drinks," she said, still recovering a little from the twirl. He left his arm around her shoulders to guide her towards the dining room, knowing that she was a bit of a klutz, and would definitely fall if left on her own.

They entered the room in a very suspicious position when Jenna looked at them and raised her eyebrows. Poppy mentally shrugged, but Elijah moved his arm from her shoulders and took her hand instead.

"Sorry, guys, dessert is taking longer than I thought. I normally unwrap food," Jenna said after she got over the two that she'd been suspiciously eyeing.

Andie then entered the room and took her seat, looking directly at Elijah. "So... I know this is a social thing, but I... I would really love to ask you some more questions about the work you're doing here."

"I'd love to answer," he said, smiling politely.

"Great, that's so great," she said and she smiled back, with way too much enthusiasm in Poppy's opinion.

Damon and Alaric then entered the room, which made the blonde once again question what exactly their intentions were for this evening.

"Ric, would you do me a favor and grab the notebook from my bag?" Andie asked.

Poppy gave Elijah a look and squeezed his hand, letting him know that she definitely thought something was up. He clearly wasn't feeling as nervous as she was, and was still trying to give the others the benefit of the doubt. Then she felt her necklace starting to get warm. None of this seemed to be a good sign, at all.

Alaric started to look in the bag.

"Elijah," Damon said, bringing his attention from Poppy's concerns back towards the conversation. "Did John tell you that he's Elena and Poppy's uncle, or father?"

He sighed and knew that this would only upset Poppy more, which seemed to be Damon's prime goal this evening. "Yes, I am well aware of that," he said.

"Of course, they both hate him, so there's absolutely no need to keep him on the endangered species list," he continued.

John looked extremely uncomfortable as all eyes shifted to him.

Poppy rolled her eyes. "It's funny, though, because Elena cares about you, but I don't in the slightest. Meaning, if any of you do something out of line, Elijah has no reason why _not_ to kill you since he won't be hurting me by doing it. You're pretty much the number one spot on the hit list, if you think about it. Other than Niklaus... but then again..."

Damon gave her a stony look and glared at her.

Andie took the attention away, though, when Alaric was still unable to find the notebook. "No, Ric it's in the front pocket. On the... You know what? Excuse me, guys. Sorry." She finally decided to get up and find it herself.

John turned towards Elijah, obviously trying to change the subject. "What I'd like to know, Elijah, is how you plan on killing Klaus?"

Elijah rolled his eyes, now officially done with the game that they were trying to play. "Gentlemen, there's a few things we should probably get clear right now. I allow you to live solely to keep an eye on Elena and to please Poppy. I allow Elena to remain in her house living her life with her friends as she does as a courtesy. If you become a liability, I'll take her away from you and you'll never see her again."

"Sounds fair," Poppy said, shrugging. Her necklace then seemed to heat up more and more and she frowned, looking down at it. Something was happening, right now.

Andie came back to the table with her notebook. "Okay, my first question is when you got here to Mystic..."

Just then, there was a loud thrashing noise, and Poppy tensed, not wanting to know what happened. When she looked to her right, she wasn't too surprised to see Elijah there, his skin quickly turning back to the grey-ish color it was when she had first met him. She got up from her chair, not bothering to scoot it back and it crashed loudly on the floor from her speed as she pushed his own chair back, looking at the dagger that was going through his heart.

"No," she said. Her voice was empty of all emotions other than anger. "No!"

She went behind the chair where the dagger was still stuck and pulled it out, throwing it on the floor. Poppy felt her insides twist as she looked at his dead body. This couldn't be happening. She took his face in her hands and studied his features as she kneeled on the floor. His neck was now limp, so she held his head and stroked his face softly with her thumbs while his face finished greying up. After brushing his hair out of his eyes for a moment, she stood and walked over to Alaric, the man who had just daggered the Original. Her Original.

"How dare you?" she yelled, her common sense having been daggered just a few seconds ago. Without another thought, she slapped him hard across the face with a loud crack. It hurt her hand, but she ignored the sting, completely blinded by rage and sadness. While he was disoriented, she did exactly what she told Caroline she would do if she had any problems - she kicked him where it hurt. Hard. Then she turned back to the rest of the people in the room, her entire body shaking from shock and anger. "I fucking hate all of you. He didn't make any decisions, you know. That was all my sister. She was the one who chose to kill herself, you assholes, but I don't see any of you daggering her."

With that, she kneeled next to Elijah's body again, looking at his beautiful features for probably the last time and trying to keep her tears in. She felt everything inside of her shatter when looking at his lifelessness and stormed off to Stefan's room not wanting to be around anyone, but not wanting to leave in his car. It would be too weird.

Nothing in her mind truly registered as him being dead. There wasn't really enough time in the moment to think, "Look, Elijah's dead. That really sucks." But now, as she was pacing in Stefan's large bedroom all by herself... It was all that she could think about. And it more than sucked.

Besides, didn't he say that Niklaus had been daggering his siblings left and right? What did it take to wake them back up again? While she wanted these questions to be answered, she just didn't have it in her to think rationally.

The only thoughts that roamed through her mind were how she could have possibly stopped it – how she _knew_ that something was going to happen, but didn't tell him about it. How she just let them go to the dinner party, even when there was that stubborn feeling in her chest that refused to go away.

Without warning, Poppy felt someone grab onto her, then a huge woof of air, then everything stopped.

She pushed away quickly and took a few steps back, looking at the person who took her. But she couldn't believe her eyes. Because he was literally just dead. She was only just holding his limp head in her hands, watching as his life faded out of it.

The blonde looked wide-eyed at him and poked his chest, just to make sure he was real. And sure enough, it was Elijah standing right in front of her.

Without thinking, she slapped him hard across the face, knowing that she wasn't really hurting him at all. Before either of them could react to that, though, she hugged him tightly.

"You asshole. They killed you. I knew this was going to happen. I knew they had some other motive happening tonight. You have to go away from Mystic Falls. They have a proper weapon to use against you and I'm not gonna let you just stay here and get killed by them," she said, babbling a little out of shock. You couldn't really blame her though - she just lost her best friend, and then he appeared alive again out of nowhere. Not a lot of people can go through that and stay sane.

"Poppy, slow down. I'm first going to Elena to tell her the deal is off," he said. The blonde glared up at him.

"Can't you just, like, send that in the mail or something?" she snapped. He was a little taken aback by her tone - she hadn't properly snapped at him since they had met, and it had a much bigger effect on him now than before. Poppy sighed and stepped towards him, putting on a softer look as she studied his face. She took it in her hands like she had done only an hour ago, and stroked his cheeks. "Listen, dude, I'm sorry, but I just lost you. You died and I just watched it happen. I don't want to go through it again."

"I apologize that you had to see that. However, I do want to speak with your sister face-to-face. Do you know where she is?" he asked. Poppy sighed and dropped her hands to her side, taking a small step away.

"She's at the Lake House with Stefan. It's not too far away. I can give you the directions on the way," she said sneakily. The blonde knew that he wasn't planning on taking her, but after the challenging raise of an eyebrow, he agreed.

"Fine, I will take you with. But only because I know no one will harm you," he said, eyeing her. She smiled at him and couldn't help herself from hugging him again.

"I really thought you were dead, you know..." she said, sighing into his shoulder. There was still the gorgeous scent of sandalwood, jasmine, and aftershave that was lingering in his aura. She breathed in deeply and closed her eyes, enveloping herself in his entire presence. It was strange being so close and intimate with him, not that she was complaining in any way whatsoever. He was a lot better with it than she would have thought - and their bodies seemed to mold perfectly against one another, making Poppy feel like she could just fall asleep on the spot.

Before that could happen, she forced herself to pull back. "We should probably go and see Elena now..." she said, looking up at him. He nodded and she gave him some quick directions about where the Lake House is and he picked her up bridal-style as he ran there.

They arrived not long after and he put her down, only to grab a handful of rocks instead. She studied him while he lazily rolled them from either hand, and when he threw them hard at the door. It broke open, turning into millions of tiny splinters soaring across the entrance

Poppy now had a clear view of Elena and Stefan in the house. She watched as Stefan left so her sister could talk to Elijah alone.

Elijah walked closer to the house, with Poppy following after him, not daring to let go of his hand this time. "You know, I might not be able to enter this house... But I am a very patient man. I'll wait you out," he said calmly.

The doppelgänger walked closer to the door, but made sure to stay inside the house. "They shouldn't have done what they did," she said, obviously nervous about the situation.

"Damn right they shouldn't have," Poppy said, rolling her eyes.

Elijah ignored her last comment and turned to Elena. "The deal is off."

"I'm renegotiating."

"You have nothing left to negotiate with," he replied simply. However, time froze when Elena pulled out a knife.

"Holy shit Elena - what exactly do you think you're doing?" Poppy said, now nervous at seeing her with a knife in her hand.

"I'd like to see you lure Klaus into Mystic Falls after the doppelgänger bleeds to death," she threatened. Elijah calmed himself when he remembered the Salvatore brother who was waiting inside.

"Stefan won't let you die," he said confidently.

"No, he won't. He'll feed me his blood to heal me, and then I'll kill myself and become a vampire, just like Katherine did. So unless you want that to happen again, promise me the same as before... promise me... You won't harm anyone that I love. Even if they've harmed you," she said, with the knife threateningly close to her stomach.

Poppy stared at the exchange with wide eyes, but couldn't bring herself to say anything.

"I'm sorry, Elena, but I have to call your bluff," Elijah said. The blonde prayed to whatever was out there that it was truly a bluff, but it didn't seem to reach them.

Her sister stabbed her stomach, making blood immediately pool out of her. Poppy ran inside and tried to cover and put pressure on the wound as much as she could but there was way too much blood.

"No! Yes. Yes, you can have your deal. Let me heal you," Elijah said. Poppy didn't even notice how distressed he was, trying to get inside the house. She sighed, knowing that her stupid sister was his last chance of true survival in a world with his younger brother in it.

"Give me your word," Elena said, pushing for more.

"I give you my word," he said quickly.

With that, Elena pulled out of Poppy's arms and limped towards the Original. She landed in his arms ungracefully, and right when Poppy thought that it was going to be over, her sister stabbed him.

"No!" Poppy ran outside towards him and lessened his fall with the little strength that she had. She stared at him while his body, once again, turned gray. His face was still there and she knew he could see and hear her. She cupped his face and felt as the life slowly disappeared. The blonde vaguely noticed the tears running down her face. "I will bring you back, idiot. I promise. Until then, I will give them hell."

She held him like that until he was fully the unnatural grey color. She kissed his forehead and let her tears fall. And then she had to finally, truly accept it.

Elijah Mikaelson was gone.

* * *

 _ **This chapter was a crazy whirlwind of emotions, which is basically heaven-in-a-box for a writer... even if it didn't exactly end on a good note.**_

 _ **Elijah is now in his little sleeping dagger-y thing, which I'm pretty upset about. Throughout the last couple of chapters, the two have obviously grown extremely close - more than friend close. So, it will be fun to write him waking up after a few chapters. And I am basically obsessed with writing this story. Poppy and Elijah are starting to really get somewhere with their relationship, so this will be very exciting in the coming chapters.**_

 _ **Thank you so much for all of the reviews you guys have been sending – they all mean so much to me and encourage me to keep writing! Tell me any thoughts you have, or any scenes you'd like to be played out throughout the next few chapters with Elijah gone!**_

 _ **Until next time!**_

 _ **~Alissa**_


	12. The Aftermath

_CRASH_

"HOW DARE YOU?!"

 _CRASH_

"Poppy, please calm down! We had to do it!"

 _CRASH_

"HE TRUSTED YOU!"

 _CRASH_

"Listen twerp, your little boyfriend was just collateral damage."

 _CRASH_

"I DON'T FUCKING CARE, SALVATORE. YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO KILL HIM!"

 _CRASH_

"Can you stop throwing plates at us?"

 _CRASH_

"NO!"

 _CRASH_

"I FUCKING HATE YOU!"

 _CRASH_

"You guys called me?"

 _CRASH_

"Whoa, Poppy calm down."

 _CRASH_

"I'M NOT GOING TO CALM DOWN, CAROLINE."

Poppy finally paused with her throwing of expensive china and glared at everyone in the room. It was in complete disarray at this point. Elena was being shielded by Damon, while Stefan was standing a little closer with an arm out and trying to calm her down. When her vision landed on Caroline, with her understanding eyes, she couldn't keep the wall built up that was pushing out all of her emotions. As it came crashing down, she heard herself crying uncontrollably, and didn't feel anything other than the pain that her sister caused.

"They killed him. He didn't even do anything and they _killed_ him," she said, gasping for breath as the tears flowed. She was barely able to say those words before she let out a sob and fell to the floor, only to have Caroline catch her.

"I know, sweetie. I know," she said, trying to comfort her friend.

"He's dead. He's just gone. And it's their fault, and I don't think I can ever forgive them," she said as she let out another sob. She could barely breathe around the lump that was growing in her throat and her vision was completely impaired at this point, not that it mattered because her face was tucked into her friend's neck, trying to get away from everything.

Poppy felt as Caroline rubbed her back comfortingly and she just cried into her shoulder. All that she wanted to do was sink into the arms of her friend and think about how her own sister had betrayed her.

"You're going to stay at my house and we can eat as much Ben and Jerry's as we can while we watch movies. Okay?" She nodded into her shoulder and felt as Caroline picked her up so that she was cradled in her arms.

"I hope you guys are happy with yourselves. I think you've officially broken her."

And with that, Poppy felt a big whoosh of air and they were at Care's house.

* * *

"Okay, should we watch The Woman in Black and be completely distracted about everything that happened, or should we watch The Notebook and cry into our ice cream and popcorn?" Caroline asked, tapping her chin and frowning as if trying to find the answer to a difficult math problem.

Poppy sighed and shifted her position on the couch. "The Woman in Black for sure. The less time I spend thinking about him tonight, the better," she said.

Caroline looked back at her and sighed. "You've never been this upset before, other than with your parents," she said. Poppy closed her eyes, not wanting to think about all of this anymore.

"Please, Caroline. Not tonight. We can talk about this later, but not now," she said, while taking another bite from her second tub of 'Chocolate Fudge Brownie'.

"Fine, fine. But we should do something for you, so you can move on – at least until he wakes up again," she suggested.

Poppy frowned, but nodded. "I think that would be healthy… And I should probably get his car from the Salvatore's house anyway. You'll have to get the keys from his- um, well, from him. They won't trust me to not take the dagger out," she said. The young vampire nodded and put the movie in.

"Okay, we can worry about that tomorrow. Tonight, we will get scared enough to push all worries out of our minds, other than the movie. I'll even order some pizza," she said.

Slowly, the bad memories of the evening slipped away a little as Poppy allowed herself to let go for a while, watching the film. There was, of course, a dull – okay, it wasn't dull, it was very painful – ache inside of her from losing Elijah, but just to make Caroline happy she decided to ignore it for the time being.

Eventually, the movie finished and the girls decided to go to sleep. Poppy found comfort in knowing that she would see Luca the next day and he would help her go through all of this.

* * *

The next morning, Poppy woke up from a nightmare, her pulse racing as she tried to push the memories out of her mind. The vividness of it drove her close to tears, but she pushed them down when she told herself that they wouldn't do anything to help anyone.

There was still school that day, so Poppy picked something out from Caroline's closet – thankfully they were the same size, other than the height-difference – and got dressed. She didn't bother with trying to look nice and went with some leggings and a black oversized sweater. She decided on having a mourning period for her friend, and put on some black sandals. Her makeup only included waterproof mascara and she put her hair up in a bun, really not wanting to bother with it.

By the time that she was nearly finished getting ready, Caroline was just getting up.

"I'm incredibly jealous of how fast it takes you vampires to get ready…" Poppy said, forcing herself to be even somewhat close to her normal amusing personality.

This seemed to make Caroline happy, just hearing her friend acting normal again. "At this point, it rarely takes me more than three minutes, unless I have to do my hair," she said proudly.

Poppy watched, vaguely impressed, as her friend got ready in record time. When she was done, they both had a small breakfast of toast and fruit {and blood on Caroline's part}.

"Do you think we can get his car before school? I have to get to Luca and Jonas's house somehow after school anyway," she said as she poked at her food, hardly eating anything and her mind roaming elsewhere.

Caroline looked over at her with a concerned expression, but nodded. "Of course, sweetie. I'll text Stefan and we should start heading there now if we want to get to school on time. But... I'm still not exactly sure why you insist on going today anyway – you could really use the day off and you know it."

"Yeah, right," Poppy said quietly as she put her dishes in the sink, not bothering to clean them until later. "I'm sure I'll be fine."

The two girls drove to the Salvatore's, and when they arrived, Caroline quickly got the keys to Elijah's car from his body and tossed them over to Poppy. She caught them and looked them over in her hand, sighing. There were only three keys on it, one being for the car. She wondered what the others were for, but shrugged it off and walked over to his car.

She'd never been much into cars, so she didn't know what kind it was, but she did know that it was really nice and definitely really expensive. It hurt her to even look at it because of all of the time they had spent together in it.

She sighed and got into the car before she could do anything else, but froze. Immediately, she was enveloped in the smell of jasmine, sandalwood, and aftershave. This was the final blow she could take before letting out a sob. She bent her head forward and leaned it against the leather wheel as she felt her sadness overwhelm her.

She could still hardly believe that he was truly gone – she didn't want to believe it either. Poppy allowed herself to let everything out then, knowing that she wouldn't let herself do it otherwise. For just that time, she let herself think of how he wouldn't be waiting for her in his car after school to either take her to Jonas's or drive her back home. She let herself think about how long she would have to wait before she got to joke with him and tease him about his nobleness. She let herself think about how she couldn't go out to the Grill with him anymore. Poppy got so overwhelmed with this that she didn't notice her best friend was looking at her through the window until she knocked on it.

The blonde looked up and wiped her eyes immediately, knowing there were bound to be tears, and tried to calm her breathing. Caroline was on the other side of the window, staring at her with pitying eyes. Poppy sighed and put the keys in ignition before rolling the window open.

"Care, I'm fine. Please, just give me a mo-"

"Poppy, that's the thing. I don't think you _are_ fine," she interrupted. This only made the former sigh once more and roll her eyes.

"Care, this is what you should _expect._ I just lost my best friend. My gorgeous, polite, intelligent, badass, vampire best friend – who I've been developing feelings for. He's gone. And it was all because of my sister. _She_ was the one who caused all of this to happen and she was the one who made me like this. It would be wrong for me not to be upset. So please, just let me be sad on my own," she said, unable to hold it back any longer. Poppy found it ridiculous that Caroline was constantly pushing her to say her feelings towards the subject. For the time being, she just needed to cry in his car and think about how sad she was, then she'd go on with her life.

Caroline frowned at her friend, but nodded. "Okay, if you're sure… Just don't get suicidal or anything. Remember that he _can_ come back if the dagger is taken out of him. Not that I'm suggesting you do it or anything. I mean-"

"I get it Care," Poppy said. She looked down at her hands, her nails were painted periwinkle blue – the day before, she had made Elijah choose between that and red – she agreed when he told her blue. The vague memory made her sigh, until she remembered Caroline was still there. "I'll see you at school."

"Yeah, see you…"

With that, the young vampire left and drove off.

Poppy closed her eyes for a moment before she collected herself, wiping the streaks of tears that was surly along her cheeks and under her eyes. Finally, she drove to Mystic Falls High School, two hours late. At this point, she didn't really care, so she took her time as she made her way to the attendance office.

The lady at the desk immediately noticed the blonde standing in front of her. "Ms. Gilbert, what excuse do you have today?" she asked, at a crossway between being bored and being concerned. There were a lot of absences on Poppy's behalf lately, so anyone in their right mind would be at least somewhat worried.

Poppy sighed – something she was doing a lot that day – and knew that she would have to answer this question eventually. She hesitantly stuck with the truth in a vague manner.

"Um…" She tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear nervously. "Death of a loved one, I guess you would call it," she said while making sure to avoid all eye contact if possible.

The mood in the room shifted quickly, and the attendance lady furrowed her eyebrows and put on a pitying face identical to Caroline's from earlier.

"Oh, dear. Let me know if there's anything you ever want to talk about-"

"Can I just take the slip?" Poppy interrupted. She was already done with people 'trying to help her.' Elena seemed to have ruined that job for anyone who ever wanted to try in the future.

The lady nodded and she left with the paper that would give her an excuse for missing class.

When she entered the class, her peers all looked at her before turning to each other to gossip. Wonderful. She sighed and gave the teacher the slip before sitting in her assigned seat, next to Matt.

"Hey, homie," she said, forcing on a half-smile. He smiled back at her, but she was sure that his was more genuine. It was clear that he noticed this because his smile turned into a frown.

"Hi Poppy, what's up?" he asked, his voice laced with concern. She closed her eyes for a moment, as if this would help with pushing the emotions away.

"Not much... Elijah – you know my friend?" She got a nod in reply. "Well, he's… gone. Elena and the Salvatores scared him away from Mystic Falls and now I might never see him again. And we weren't even able to say goodbye to each other."

Matt crinkled his nose, obviously disliking the brothers' tactics. "Sorry, Poppy. That really sucks," he said sincerely. The blonde gave him a sad smile.

"Yeah, I know. Thanks."

She knew that he was being serious when he said that he was sorry – Matt always meant it whenever he said anything. He was another one of the few teenage boys in the country who was actually kind to people. Something in her thought that he had no idea about the supernatural world, which was why she lied to him. He was the golden boy of Mystic Falls and there was no way he could live there knowing what was happening around him.

They chatted a little throughout the rest of the class period, but before long the bell was ringing and it was time for the next class.

The blonde walked through the crowded halls, and whenever she passed anyone, they would go quiet and start whispering to the others around them. She fixed her posture and glared at all of them.

"Gilbert!" It was one of the football players – not exactly the good kind, like Matt, either. "Heard your boyfriend left you – I'm sure it was good riddance on his part."

He was the typical 'heartbreaker' with his dark brown hair and grey eyes. The chiseled jawline could almost compete with Elijah's, but the blonde was too disgusted by his attitude to ever think of him as anything more than a terrible bully. He was practically Tyler Lockwood's replacement after the mayor's son learned some compassion.

Poppy slowed her pace before stopping in front of him. She smirked to herself, knowing that she could easily humiliate him, as he had done to many others while in school. "Certainly. I mean, I'm a bit of a handful. Having a brain of my own seems to do that to a girl, but you wouldn't know that. We aren't exactly your type, are we, Branson?"

"That's all you've got?" he asked threateningly. She glared up at him. A crowd was now beginning to form, not that she noticed in the slightest.

"Actually no, that isn't all I've got. You see, my _boyfriend,"_ she spit the word out with venom. She was honestly getting tired of people assuming what their relationship was..."He actually had the ability to have compassion towards other human beings despite his family problems. However, you seem to be lacking in that department because you still bully people to let out your anger towards your brother for leaving you _all_ alone-"

He gave her the biggest glare he could, his jaw tightening. "You said you wouldn't talk about that."

She raised an eyebrow in challenge. "Yeah, well you seemed to have hit it a little too close to home. And you probably shouldn't have told me if you didn't want me to know."

"Too bad you won't have him around to protect you anymore. Anything could happen, and no one would know," he said, stepping closer to her. She could feel is breath on her face and crinkled her nose in disgust and pushed him away, hard.

He stumbled away from her a few steps and nearly snarled. "Gilbert, you really want to do this?" he asked.

"Bring it on," she answered easily. Anyone would be a fool to threaten her – her two closest friends were vampires {although one was currently… unavailable} and she had two other friends with magical abilities. Not to mention her own fighting techniques she learned through elementary and middle school. She threw her bag to someone she vaguely recognized who was standing nearby.

"You asked for it," he said. He immediately went in for the punch, but she ducked and hit him in the stomach. She held her hands up to protect her body and he tried again, but she blocked it, then kneed him and she chuckled internally when she noticed that he had almost the same injuries as Alaric. His knees gave out as he cradled himself and she stood over him, looking at her work and kicking him once more, so he wouldn't try to come back for more. His fighting technique was sloppy, and only made it easy for her to beat him.

"Whoa, Poppy! What the hell do you think you're doing?" It was Luca, coming to end the fun. She glared at him.

"I'm teaching James Branson a lesson. Apparently, he thinks it's funny to threaten to rape girls. Obviously I have a different sense of humor. Not to mention that he thinks that I would be good riddance on Elijah's part, which we all know isn't true," she said. Then she looked down at her feet and frowned. "But I am surprised that I could take him down while wearing only sandals."

"Miss Gilbert, what trouble did you get yourself into now?" the school principal said, walking up to her. The blonde closed her eyes and pursed her lips. Why was she so surprised that her principal would be upset with her for bringing down a kid?

"Mrs. Williams, hello…" she said awkwardly, turning to greet her. All that she got in response was crossed arms and a raised eyebrow. "Right, okay. So I'm guessing that me mourning the death of my very closest friend – almost boyfriend if he played his cards right – wouldn't get me a good excuse for this?" she asked, batting her eyelashes in what she hoped was a subtle way.

The principal only sighed and shook her head, in both disappointment and amusement at the same time. "Ms. Gilbert, follow me to my office," she said before turning from the scene.

Poppy groaned and turned down to Branson who was starting to fix himself enough to get up. Without another thought, she checked the halls for teachers and kicked him where it hurt when the coast was clear. He curled up again, yelling after her something along the lines of, "I'll get you back for this, Gilbert!" and she let out a laugh along with the remnants of the crowd, before getting her bag and following the principal.

* * *

The final bell rang to dismiss the students, and Poppy went straight for Elijah's car. She didn't want to spend any more time at school than was absolutely necessary. After getting a warning for her actions {what was wrong with this school? She only got a warning? Jeez} she got to continue with her normal classes. Throughout all of them, though, all that she could bring herself to think about was the fact that she wouldn't be able to see Elijah right after school as she usually did. The empty feeling seemed to swallow her whole and as the day went on, she only felt worse.

Poppy was relieved to finally be alone, in the car. It hurt, all the time – every second, she felt a new twist of pain throughout her body as she remembered him. They'd been teasing each other and bickering one minute, and the next he was gone. Completely and utterly gone. And the feeling of emptiness was killing her slowly.

As she had been doing all day, she pushed these emotions down after a few tears managed to escape. After all, this was supposed to be an important afternoon – she would finally learn more about what she was.

Trying not to think much, Poppy drove the expensive car over to Jonas and Luca's apartment. She arrived in record time, and ran up the stairs. As she did, her mind roamed back to about a couple of weeks before, when Elijah 'showed up' at her house in the middle of the night.

* * *

 _Poppy sighed contently as she sat in her bed, Indian-style, and read Jane Eyre. Aurora was laying in her lap and purring while she pet her. The blonde was wearing one of her many pajama sets – this one being charcoal grey silk, lined with white along the edges. This was how she enjoyed spending her time, other than watching Netflix of course. She took a drink of her cinnamon-coated chai latte and leaned back into the many throw pillows on the bed._

 _The moment was so relaxed that it took her a couple of minutes to even realize the man standing in front of her. A subtle cough was all that it took for her to jump, looking up, startled._

" _Holy shit, Elijah! You should learn how to knock. I mean, you're perfectly polite in every other way," she said, still trying to catch her breath. The cat in her lap stretched and slowly got to her feet, making her way towards the intruder._

 _Elijah didn't respond to this, but instead sat next to her on the bed. She looked over at him._

" _What exactly are you doing here?" she asked. He only looked at her with a twinkle in his eye. "Wait, I know that look. What did you do? Why do you look like you know something that I don't?"_

" _I only seemed to happen across some tickets to the Broadway show Les Misérables, which I'm quite certain you're familiar with," he said smoothly. Her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets at this news, her jaw dropping._

" _No way… Dude you seriously got some?" she asked, no longer able to stay seated the way she was. She got up quickly so she was sitting up on the heels of her feet, facing him._

" _Yes I did – let's just say that a seat or two opened up…" he said. The implication was obviously that he had killed a few people and found the tickets there coincidentally. At this point, though, Poppy didn't care much._

"… _And since you're telling me specifically, and I'm assuming this isn't some new terrible form of torture or something – you want to take me?" she asked. He smirked inwardly at her response._

" _I wouldn't say_ want _exactly – it's more like you would appreciate it more than anyone else I currently know," he corrected. A smile suddenly spread largely across her face and she hugged him tightly._

" _Thank you so much!" she said. The blonde let go and went back into her Indian-style position, cooling herself a little. "But, come on. You know you love me."_

 _He ignored the last comment. "Charlotte Brontë, I see," he commented._

" _Yeah, I was feeling sentimental. My mother had a knack for old literature, and we would read this together. It's grown on me more over time," Poppy explained._

" _Ah, I am quite the fan myself. 'Feeling without judgement is a washy draught indeed; but judgement untampered by feeling is too bitter and husky a morsel for human deglutition,'" he quoted._

 _She raised her eyebrows. "Quite impressive."_

 _He gave her a small smile. "Indeed."_

* * *

She sighed as the memory took over her. When she looked up, she noticed that she'd arrived at their door. Quickly, she knocked and waited for someone to open it.

Luca was standing inside when he did and she hugged him tightly.

"My sister is a total bitch. You're lucky not to have met her, out of all of the freaking Gilberts. I mean, what kind of sister goes off and kills your best friend? Who does that?" she asked into his shirt.

"I don't know, Poppy. She probably thought that she was helping," he tried to reason. She pushed back and stepped away angrily. Looking up at him, she glared.

"Well, she's wrong, Luca."

"Poppy," Jonas just arrived and walked up to greet her. However, he froze at the sight of her – throughout the day, she'd stopped trying to wipe away her tears because she knew they would keep coming regardless, and her hair had also been put into a very messy bun. Her whole persona that she put on for others was completely gone, leaving her to look empty.

She sighed. "Yes, I know I look terrible. Can you just tell me your information so I can leave?"

He looked a little concerned, but nodded. "As you wish, of course."

The trio walked towards the table that they were sat at a couple of weeks before and Poppy prepared herself to just listen and get this over with. Jonas seemed to be in the same mindset because he began as soon as they were settled.

"The Petrova Twins were given the… Destiny, I suppose some may call it, to destroy the Original Vampires, and therefore killing the entire race," he said. She raised her eyebrows in surprise. Out of all things, she wasn't quite expecting this.

"Wait, if I was destined to kill the Originals, then wouldn't I have felt some type of murderous urges towards Elijah? Because if I was feeling any urges towards him, they were _not_ murderous ones…" she said. To lighten the mood, she winked, which earned a twisted look from Luca, obviously grossed out by the idea of what she was suggesting. Jonas ignored her last action and went on to answering the question.

"The Twins all were unable to achieve their goal because they weren't capable of doing it. None of them had the right mindset or intelligence to lead them to their destiny. They were never given any bias, unless the spirits believed they could accomplish what they were asked," he explained. Poppy frowned.

"They seriously don't think I'm capable?" she asked. Jonas nodded.

"It seems like it."

"What? Did they _not_ see me just beat up that 6'4 jock or something? Because that was impressive, and now I'm sort of offended," she said, frowning. It wasn't that she really _wanted_ to be the one in charge of killing Elijah and his family, but... The fact that they didn't think she could was unfair.

Jonas and Luca chuckled and both shook their heads, looking completely identical.

"It isn't only your physical abilities. It is also your mental and emotional abilities. You must admit that you are… close, I guess you could say, with Elijah. This in itself is what's stopping the spirits from getting to your mind. Your attraction towards him is likely the only thing stopping you from being the twin they choose."

Poppy furrowed her eyebrows, still processing everything. "So I was made to kill Elijah and his family? That's what you're saying?" she asked. It was strange to hear – it didn't even sound real when she repeated it. How could she be the one to kill her best friend? And how exactly would he react when given this new information?

"Yes, technically you were. However, that doesn't mean that you have to do it. The spirits are normally lenient with… situations like these," Jonas said.

"Yeah, Okay – whatever. Is that all that there is?" the blonde asked, now getting rather bored.

The man sighed and shook his head at her restlessness, but then nodded. "Yes, that's all that I have right now. I'll inform you if they tell me anything new."

"Okay, thanks anyway. I'll see you around. And Luca, it's probably best if I'm not at school tomorrow… Today didn't exactly go very well," she said, holding back a chuckle as she thought of the fight that had taken place earlier.

Luca nodded. "Yeah, that would probably be best."

With that, Poppy left their apartment and went to the car. It wasn't long of a drive home, and before she knew it she was there. She sighed as she made her way into the house. Elena would no-doubt be ready to confront her the second she walked through the door and she was fully prepared to completely ignore her until she gave any reason why not to.

* * *

 _ **That was a bit more boring to write than most chapters – though I did LOVE that first scene. I've had that planned for I don't even know how long and it was very entertaining for me :)**_

 _ **Poppy is clearly completely accepting her feelings by now, as there really isn't any use for her to deny them. If she did, then everyone would probably just raise their eyebrows and say something along the lines of, "Okay, sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night."**_

 _ **I'm sorry that this update was so late! My laptop wasn't working at all last week so I had to get it fixed, which worried me deeply since I have about 8 more chapters ahead of this already written on it... Let's just say that if my computer ever stops working completely, you will be able to hear my angry screams from a different continent...**_

 _ **Please tell me your thoughts in a review! Thank you so much for the feedback I've already gotten, I love you all so much!**_

 _ **~Alissa**_


	13. Pull Yourself Together

"Poppy, please just talk to me."

The blonde rolled her eyes, but ignored the annoying voice. Her sister was trying, yet again, to have a conversation that didn't involve screaming or throwing. Typical.

"I know you can hear me. I can see you rolling your eyes."

She stood up and left the room, deciding that of all grudges to hold, this was the one. She was not going to let Elena by on this one as easily as she had with the supernatural stuff – this was way beyond that. This was her last straw, and her sister would have to wait at least a year until they would be cool again. Poppy promised this to herself whenever she walked into the same room as her sister so that she could stay strong.

Elena didn't seem to take the hint and followed her up the stairs.

"Poppy, talk to me. Say something. Lash out, whatever. I don't care. I just need to talk to you."

The blonde got to her room and slammed the door shut in her sister's face and locked it. She closed her eyes and leaned against the door. She was going to kill that girl some day and everyone knew it…

Without thinking about it, Poppy grabbed a coat and Elijah's keys and opened her window. She had to get away – there was no way she was staying there. It had officially been one full week without Elijah, and Elena was still attempting to get back on her good side. Ineffectively.

She swiftly snuck out of the house, knowing that it was the only thing she could do to stay sane that night. This was something she'd never done in her entire life, so she wasn't exactly sure what to do now that she'd done it. She walked along the roof until she reached one of the trees to her left, then very clumsily climbed down it.

The blonde ran quickly and quietly to the car and unlocked it. It was dark outside – the sun had set about an hour ago, but it was winter so it wasn't too late. Suddenly, she was full of complete curiosity when she realized she'd never properly looked at what was inside the car. It just didn't feel right to snoop, but that night she couldn't seem to be able to help herself.

She ran into the passenger side and looked in the glovebox. It was empty except for a photo that she'd taken. She recognized it immediately. The photo was taken a while after the movie marathon – when she finally considered Elijah to be 'friend worthy'. It was a picture of him waiting for her inside the Grill, with her reflection in the window. That day, it had been snowing, so you could see the frost closing in along the glass and it was focused mostly on her, with the camera covering her face. The memory was still clear, though, and she smiled softly as she thought about it.

* * *

 _Poppy smiled, looking into the mirror. It was snowing outside, quite early in the year, and she was nowhere near close to complaining. She was wearing a peplum red pea coat, black jeans, and black ankle boots. Her curly hair was pinned back on both sides, and she was very pleased with the current weather._

 _Currently, she was getting ready to meet Elijah at the Grill. She was still excited about the idea of seeing Les Mis with him, even if it was going to happen in about a month. Everyone still sort of disapproved of their friendship, but Poppy decided to just roll her eyes, curse, and ignore them – not particularly in that order._

 _She straightened her coat a little and went to grab a cream-colored knit beanie and put it on her head. Eyeing her camera, she bit her lip. It had been a while since she'd brought it with her anywhere, and the snow would make for good photos… She grabbed it without a second thought, and with that, she left her house._

 _It hardly took any time to arrive at the Grill, and she walked up to the little restaurant/café/bar. The girl was about to enter, but her artistic senses were tingling inside of her and her hands itched to take a photo. She bit her lip and walked around the building until she found him drinking his tea inside. Slowly, she pulled her camera up towards her eye and made sure it was zoomed out all the way. The image was focused on him, but she felt like it was missing something…_

 _As she messed with the settings, she finally found the perfect point and took it. It was now fixed to focus on her own reflection, rather than the image inside, though you could still mostly see through. The camera covered her face in the reflection, and Elijah was shown just to the left of her in the image, sitting and waiting for her to arrive. Frost covered the window, making it a bit less transparent than it normally would be and giving it a nice effect. She immediately knew that it was one of her favorites she'd ever taken._

 _She walked into the Grill and greeted him._

" _Hey, Elijah. What's up?" she asked him, sitting down. She took her hat and coat off draping the latter around her chair._

" _I've only been waiting for you. Why was it that you wished to meet again?" he asked. The blonde rolled her eyes. Men could be so clueless sometimes…_

" _Because I think that we've been around each other enough for us to be considered friends. And this is what friends do – they have coffee and tea at the Grill while conversing with one another. So I thought to myself, 'I should be normal for a change.' You were the first person who popped into my head," she said simply. He narrowed his eyes in thought._

" _I'm not sure whether I should take that as a compliment or not."_

 _Poppy shrugged. "Doesn't matter. Anyway, before I walked in here I took a freaking awesome photo and I'll print one out for you. But you don't get to see it until then – it'll be a surprise," she said with a mischievous smile. Elijah smiled and shook his head at her strangeness._

" _You certainly are something else, Poppy."_

" _I know," she said casually, the twinkle still in her eye. "So, how are you enjoying the snow?"_

 _The two finished their drinks, all the while talking to each other, as the friends they were._

* * *

She bit her lip as she looked at it. The blonde had her own copy framed in her room, but for some reason, seeing it in his car affected her more. Just knowing that he kept it close assured her that everything she was feeling wasn't one sided, but the moment she thought this, she had to close her eyes for a moment to collect herself. There was no way she would be able to last much longer without being able to see him, but she forced herself to push through. After all, she didn't want to be one of those annoying girls whose lives were over because of some guy…

Poppy shook her head and put the photo back in its place. Looking around, there wasn't anything else in the car. She got out of the car and took the keys with her, preparing to just go back inside, but then she realized that she never looked in the trunk of the car either.

Unlocking it, she opened the trunk to find only a few extra suits. She scoffed, but smiled at his ridiculousness… Only Elijah Mikaelson would keep extra suits with him at all times. In a back corner, there were also some blood bags, but she quickly decided to ignore them.

Each suit was expertly folded, looking like they had just been bought, but for some reason, Poppy felt the need to unfold one of them. The shirts were all placed in the jackets, as if the outfits had already been planned. She took a light blue one out from the jacket and smiled when the smell of him immediately followed. Unable to stop herself, she held the shirt closely to her chest and couldn't help but think of how pathetic she was. Here she was, smelling his clothes when she could be off doing something even relatively productive – she was practically Bella Swan, which was definitely not a good thing.

She shook her head and sighed into the shirt. Then, she promised herself that this was officially the last night she would spend thinking about him, and after this, she would move on. Her and Caroline had been meaning to do this anyway, but they never set a day to do it, but now Poppy was certain that it had to be tonight.

Getting her phone out, Poppy kept the shirt with her and closed the trunk. She dialed Caroline's number as she got into the driver's side.

"Caroline we're gonna need Ben and Jerry's and ingredients to make snickerdoodles," she said as she started driving to her friend's house.

"Um, wait what?" Caroline said, not following. It then processed a little when she remembered her friend's snickerdoodle code. "Wait, snickerdoodles? Are you going to finally get over him?"

"Yep, the best way I know how. Let's bake some cookies. And don't ask about the shirt when I get there."

"A shirt? What shi-"

Poppy hung up before she even finished the sentence. It wasn't long before she arrived at Caroline's house.

She walked straight into the house and Caroline ran up to hug her.

"Poppy, hey! What have you been up to? Elena told me that you locked yourself in your room and you didn't come out, but that's obviously not true…" she said with accusing eyes. Poppy rolled her eyes.

"I know, I snuck out. It's really not that big of a deal. I just had to get away, Elena was annoying the hell out of me with her big pouty eyes and meaningless apologies that I won't accept until she brings him back to life," she said. Caroline still frowned and crossed her arms, but didn't complain. "Anyway, that's not what I'm here for. I need to just realize that he's gone and there's nothing I can do to fix it. Starting tomorrow, I'll stop my whining and moping and I'll start being a real human being again. Tonight is my last night being dark and twisty and you're going to help me with getting all of that out of me by watching as many romantic comedies as possible and eating ice cream."

Caroline looked at her friend with concern and touched her arm comfortingly. Then she looked down at what she was holding. "Nice shirt you've got there," she said. Taking a closer look at it, she frowned. "Wait, is that Elijah's? Poppy, did you seriously steal his shirt? That's a little obsessive, and that's coming from me."

The girl in question bit her lip and looked down. "I told you not to ask about it… But yes, this is his shirt. It, uh, it sort of smells like him. Don't even start trying to judge me because I know how weird I am already."

She raised her hands in surrender quickly. "Sorry, we'll not talk about the shirt. But we should definitely fix you up a little bit. You still have your makeup on and your hair is a complete mess."

Poppy glared at her. "Gee, thanks Caroline. You really know how to boost a girl's confidence."

"Whatever, Gilbert. You know it's true. Let's go to my room and we'll get you pretty again," she said, dragging her friend.

The blondes both got to work, Poppy taking her makeup off while Caroline attempted to French braid her friend's hair.

"This is impossible. How do you deal with naturally curly hair? You can't even brush it without it going frizzy!" Caroline complained, throwing the brush down. The other girl rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, and it's been my daily struggle since I was about five, so I'm sure you can deal with braiding my hair just this once…" she said, teasing her. "But then again, if you think it will be too hard for you…"

The young vampire sighed. "No, I can do it. Just hold still."

A few minutes later, the two girls were sat in the living room sharing a crocheted blanket watching He's Just Not That Into You and eating popcorn. Poppy's hair was in a somewhat-messy French braid going to the side and she was looking a lot more presentable than before. She changed into leggings and his shirt.

"You know, this is a lot more helpful than I thought it would be," she said, taking another spoonful of her Half-Baked ice cream. "I can't tell if it's the ice cream, his shirt, or the movie, but all of them together makes for a delightful combination."

Caroline shook her head. "You're so weird. Don't you find it even a little bit odd that you're wearing his shirt? I mean, you aren't even dating or anything – you practically are, but it's not official or anything. Wouldn't normal people think that's strange?"

Poppy shrugged. "Probably, but it's really comfortable and it smells _divine._ Ooh, I like that word, divine. I don't use that enough, but I probably should."

The vampire raised her eyebrow, ignoring the last comment. "Really? I haven't ever really paid much attention, but now that I'm thinking about it, he smells pretty good," she commented. Then, out of nowhere, she couldn't hold it back. "I really miss Tyler."

Poppy gave her friend a concerned look. "I'm sorry, Care. I totally forgot about how close you two had gotten. It's been about two weeks since he left, right?" All that she got was a nod in response. She took her hand and rubbed circles on it with her thumb. "Well, let's hope that by the end of the month, both of our guys show up again preferably unscathed. But until then, let's eat some ice cream and watch crappy movies and wear their shirts shamelessly."

Caroline sighed, but nodded determinedly. "You're right. We just need to push through. Do schoolwork, watch Netflix, and ignore the negative people who are around us 24/7. All that we have to do is get past this rough patch, and on the other side will be rainbows and sunshine and happiness," she said.

"Well, if there were rainbows, it would already imply that there's sunshine. But I'm gonna let you do you…" she said, smirking. The other girl punched her lightly on the arm.

"Shut up, Poppy," the vampire said, unable to hide her smile. "The point is, we just need to push through to the end of this month and then hopefully everything will have fixed itself back up again."

With that, both girls continued watching the movie, but they were a bit more prepared for what would lie ahead for them.

* * *

Poppy groaned when the sunlight stretched across her face, causing her to wake up. The first thing that she noticed was that all she could smell was _him._ The next thing that she noticed was that this was only because of the shirt that she stole from him. That only made her groan again and shift into the bed, trying to hide her face in the covers.

She almost got away with this until the room suddenly got much colder than it was before. The girl jumped up on the mattress, hugging her body to keep warm as she looked for whoever it was that had taken the blankets from her. Surprise, surprise, Caroline was sat on the other side of the room holding all of them.

"Hey! What the hell was that for? I was getting my beauty sleep, Care!"

"Yeah, I'm sure you were. But today's the Decade Dance at school, and I'm forcing you to come," she said.

Poppy rolled her eyes. "Seriously? You know I hate school dances."

Caroline sighed. "Well, are you interested in meeting Klaus? Because from what I've heard, he's going to definitely be there," the other girl said.

She raised her eyebrows in surprise. She wasn't quite expecting that one. "Wow, that's some new information that no one's told me about. And I really would love to meet that delusional man…"

The blonde thought about how she could get herself out of this situation, but since no one knew he was Elijah's brother, she couldn't exactly pull that card… With a defeated sigh, looking over at her best friend, she decided to just go to make her happy. "Fine I'll go. Only so that you'll be happy, plus I know exactly what I'm going to wear for the Decade Dance."

Caroline's eyes immediately lit up at the sound of this and she ran over to hug her. "Yes! I thought I was going to have to get ready all alone! I think I'm going with Matt, but I'm sure you'll be welcome to tag along," she said excitedly.

She smiled at her friend's enthusiasm. "Okay, calm down Care. It's just a dance – we've been to a lot of those, and my dance history is really not that great in case you hadn't noticed. I'm just going to try to get tonight over with," she said.

Her friend sighed. "You are so lame. These dances are supposed to give us memories to look back on when we remember our high school days. Wouldn't you rather have that, than vampires and witches and werewolves?"

Poppy looked over at her and sat back down on the bed. "I suppose you have a point. I'll get ready here, but I won't tell you what I'm going to be until I'm finished. Unless, of course, you guess early. And we'll have to go to my house so that I can get my stuff."

"Sounds good to me!" Caroline said.

Poppy was then dragged from the bed, and they didn't bother changing for them to rush to the Gilbert House. They ran inside and they were confronted by Jenna. The young girl sighed at this – she completely forgot to tell her aunt that she was fine, and was now probably gonna have a bit of that temper that Jeremy was always getting.

Jenna entered the room, hands on her hips with her eyes glaring over at the two girls who had just arrived. "So I'm guessing that you were over at Caroline's?" she said.

Poppy grimaced. "Um… Yeah, sorry about that I meant to-"

"Wait, who's shirt are you wearing?" she interrupted. The blonde bit her lip at that. She was really hoping that would slide, but this obviously wasn't going to be happening any time soon… Meaning that she would have to be able to somehow explain why she's wearing her best friend's shirt. In that moment, she wished more than anything that it was possible for the ground to swallow her whole.

"Uh, I can totally explain that-"

"Is that Elijah's? Poppy Annaliese Gilbert, did you guys-"

"NO JENNA. That definitely did _not_ happen, calm down. Yes, it is his shirt, no we did not do _that._ He's still gone anyway… I just need to go get some clothes for the Decade Dance. I'll be home tonight, sorry for sneaking out," she said, blushing hard from her aunt's assumptions.

With that, before Jenna could say anything more, Poppy ran up to her room and grabbed the clothes she wanted and her makeup bag and went back down. "See you later, Jens."

"Bye, Poppy. Curfew is 10:30!"

The two girls left the house and drove back, Caroline laughing the whole time.

"I can't believe she thought you two slept together! Just the thought- _Elijah_ of all people. I can't even begin to think about him in that way. Poppy, I will never understand your strange obsession with him, and I don't really think that I'd want to, either. But I _do_ understand your appreciation towards the suits…" she said, teasing her friend until she was covering her face with her hands.

"Caroline, I swear to God I'm going to kill you. I'm going to find something and use it as a stake and kill you," she said, groaning into her hands.

The blonde smirked at her embarrassed friend. "Okay, fine. I'll stop talking now. But you've managed to escape girl talk about everything that you think is perfect about him, so you'll have to do it eventually."

"And I'll happily avoid it until that dreadful day," she said. Slowly, she put her hands down from in front of her face, which was still pink from the blush that appeared earlier. "So what are you wearing for the Decade Dance?"

Caroline smiled, loving the change of topic. "I'm going to wear a dress, of course. All that I'm telling you is that it's going to be perfect."

"Wait, Care. You're wearing a dress, when we're probably going to be meeting the most dangerous vampire on the planet? Isn't that a little bit, oh I don't know, ridiculous?"

The vampire glared over at her friend. "I'm not going to let Klaus of all people ruin tonight for me. We're going to have fun, and if on the way we happen to run into him, then I'll be fine in the dress I'm sure. It's not something I haven't done before."

"Of course it isn't," Poppy said, smiling at the crazy life that her and her friends recently got forced into.

It didn't take the girls long to get ready – the majority of the time was spent on doing their hair. As they were working on this, an idea came to Poppy.

"You know, instead of crashing on you and Matt, I could always just go with Luca," she said, looking over at her friend. However, when she saw her face, she knew something bad had happened. "Caroline, what aren't you telling me?"

The blonde looked down with a sad frown, not wanting to tell Poppy the news about what had happened the day before. But, of course, it had to come out.

"Yesterday… Something happened at the Boarding House – Damon found Luca trying to pull the dagger out of Elijah, and as most things end up happening to those who try to mess with Damon… I'm really sorry Poppy, but he died," Caroline got out quickly, not once stopping for a breath.

She froze at these words, not wanting to believe them. "Luca… He's… You're trying to tell me that the goddamn Scooby Gang killed _another_ one of my friends? Is that seriously what you're saying to me right now?"

The blonde closed her eyes tight. Why was it that she always ended up having these jobs? "I'm really sorry, Poppy. You know how Damon can be. He was just acting without thinking, as usual. I swear if there was anything that I could do, I really would do it. But it's over now. And we all know that Elena's bound to wake Elijah up soon – she seriously can't stand you being mad at her. Soon he'll be back and you can figure out a way to move on from losing Luca," she said, trying to calm the other girl down.

Poppy closed her eyes this time. Why was it that this shit always had to happen to her?

"You know what? You're right," she said. Caroline lightened up a bit at the sound of this, pleased that her friend was ready to move on for now. "I'm going to just go to this dance and have as much fun as I can tonight and meet the notorious Niklaus. And hopefully you will be right about Elena, too, and she will wake him up soon. But right now, I'm just going to follow your lead."

She pushed down the sadness from losing her friend – the person who was there for her when her entire world turned upside down. The person who had helped her with forgiving her sister in the first place. The person who she argued with about Hogwarts houses. The person who comforted her when she didn't know who to turn to.

Poppy closed her eyes for a moment and numbed this part of her, only for the evening. She would deal with her feelings tomorrow – but that night, she was just going to put on a happy face for Caroline.

Soon, both girls were finished with their outfits and on their way back to Mystic Falls High School.

* * *

 _ **Okay, I really enjoyed the first three quarters of this chapter, but then the end sort of got really, very boring… Sorry about that, guys. I'm not sure what it was, I guess I just wasn't feeling it as much. It was sort of another filler, but the next one will have more drama going on for sure.**_

 _ **Anyway, Luca isn't alive, but Elijah will soon be awake again. I'm really looking forward to the Elipy reunion and I have big plans for that. Thank you all for your reviews, follows, and favorites – it's crazy how many there are after such a short period of time. Please tell me what you guys think of this chapter! Anything that could help me with my writing would be great too!**_

 _ **Until next time!**_

 _ **~Alissa**_


	14. Dangerous Encounters

_**This chapter is a bit darker than most, so if you're sensitive to any more sinister topics, it would probably be best to skim through the chapter instead of reading it fully.**_

Poppy stood in the corner of the gym, wearing high-waisted jeans with a white button up shirt, knotted at the bottom like one of the scenes Baby had it in on Dirty Dancing. She was holding a red cup full of spiked punch, watching as all of her peers danced their hearts out. She scoffed and downed the drink before putting it on the table next to her. School dances had never really been her thing – she always enjoyed the more sophisticated things, like the Masquerade Party that only happened to be the cause of her meeting Elijah. At least when you were there, the room wasn't full off gross, hot teenagers doing whatever they considered to be 'dancing.'

Before her thoughts could lead into anything more, Alaric walked up to her. She'd already apologized about punching him earlier, even if she only halfway meant it. However, it seemed to be enough for him and they were back on more friendly terms.

"Hey, Ric."

"Hello, Poppy."

"So," she said dramatically, as if sharing the latest gossip. "How do you feel about finally meeting the notorious Niklaus tonight? I'm currently stuck between picturing him with a bunch of warts and wrinkles, and picturing him with pale skin and slicked back black hair. I can't quite decide which one would fit him best…"

"Wrinkles for sure," he said with a smile that was obviously forced. She frowned at this.

"Dude, are you distracted or something? Because the Alaric I know would be very amused by my impeccable sense of humor," she said, eyeing him carefully.

"Sorry," he said quickly. _Way_ too quickly… He then looked behind her at something. "It seems that I have business to attend to elsewhere."

"Uh, okay…?"

He didn't even wait for more of a response before leaving. The blonde frowned as she watched him walk away. That was weird…

She sat down on one of the chairs and sighed as she stared at the crowd of people. The room was full of bright colors and peace signs, even if she was almost certain that those mostly belonged in the 70's…

"Hi Poppy," a voice said from behind her. She turned and saw that it was Stefan. A smile immediately spread across her face and she got up and hugged him. He immediately hugged back, which she was thankful for – they hadn't been spending much time together recently.

"Stefan! I feel like we haven't talked in about 10 billion years! What's up?" she said to him. He smiled back at her and rubbed the back of his neck. She vaguely wondered why _all guys_ did that.

"I know, sorry about that. Most of that is probably because of me and the grudge you hold against Elena… But I do hope that everything can be resolved soon. That wasn't really why I had to talk to you, though. Klaus is here, in case you didn't already know. I just wanted to make sure that you were aware of that before anything else happens tonight," he said.

"Thank you. I really appreciate you telling me, seeing as everyone always completely forgets that I exist whenever there are big things like this. But seriously, thank you," she said sincerely, smiling.

"No problem." He returned the smile and was about to turn to head back to Elena, but he stopped. "By the way, Poppy, I'm really sorry about Elijah. I know how close you two are, and as you've told us many times, he isn't the real enemy we're facing here. Hopefully we can figure something out soon."

Poppy looked down for a moment sadly and then forced on the same smile she had on before. "Thank you, Stefan."

With that, he went to Elena and she was back to her lonesome. She stared over at Caroline and wondered why she bothered inviting her if she was only going to be dancing with Matt the whole time, but she decided not to hold it against her... even if she'd rather be home watching Netflix right now. The thought of being in her warm bed only seemed to feed her annoyance towards being there.

As she was thinking this, a girl Poppy knew as Dana went up onto the stage and got everyone's attention. "Thanks for being here, everybody," she said into the microphone. "We have a special shout-out tonight. This is for Elena. From Klaus."

Poppy nearly spat out her drink when she heard this. That cheeky son of a bitch. She laughed loudly to herself, knowing that people were looking at her, but not caring at all. "Niklaus, wherever the hell you are, I am _very_ excited to meet you. Even if your brother never really had much good to say about you, I'm already enjoying your sense of humor," she said, knowing he would hear. Little did she know, across the room, Klaus himself chuckled quietly from her words. He was well aware of her and Elijah's relationship, and it couldn't amuse him any more than it did.

Of course on her side, there was no response, which left her feeling a little awkward, so the blonde walked out of the room and found her way to the restroom. She dazed as she walked there, taking all of the turns that she memorized back in freshman year. Being the maze of a school that it was, she had to think in her head, left, left, right, left.

Suddenly, around the corner just before the bathrooms, someone grabbed her tightly and put their hand over her mouth. She gasped in surprise and immediately tried to retaliate, kicking and punching anywhere possible and tried to bite the hand covering her mouth. Her struggling was pointless, however, because her attacker still had a strong grip on her and was hurrying her to a close classroom. She could feel the amount of muscle mass through the shirt they were wearing, and also realized that it was a man who had taken her. The direction that she was held, she could only see where they were going, but not the face of who it was.

When the attacker entered the room, pulling her with him, he threw her down, crashing her into the many desks so that he could close and lock the door. Poppy was on the floor now, still in shock by the recent events and looked down at her ankle to see it was twisted in slightly the wrong way. She bit her lip when she looked at it. Watching all of the seasons of Grey's Anatomy still hadn't prepared herself for actually seeing this type of stuff, did it?

Looking back up, she finally found who the person was. Standing high above her was James Branson, looking as annoying and arrogant as ever.

"You know, Gilbert, I told you that I would get you back. All that you did was laugh, but look at where we are now," he said, smirking evilly down at her. She wanted to seem like she was cool with this and manage to get her way out of it, but it felt like her brain was temporarily shut down in panic. Her entire body was completely frozen, unable to move from the hard floor that she was thrown on. Why was it that this happened at the worst times?

"What, so now you aren't saying anything? For the first time in your entire life?" he said, kicking her hurt ankle. She winced and glared at him, sitting up and trying to put as much space between them as possible.

"I've decided that you aren't even worth the calories I waste talking to you," the blonde spit out. This line was one of Caroline's favorites to say, but there were such few instances where it actually fit in context, so she wasn't about to waste it.

"Oh, really? Too bad because I want to be doing a little more than just talking," Branson said darkly, his angry grey eyes glaring down hungrily at her. The way he held himself showed that these words were truths, but Poppy forced herself to play this against him and try her hardest to get out of this.

"You wouldn't dare try anything with me, asshole. You know that I'm friends with practically the entire school. Don't even begin to think that I won't tell Stefan, Damon, Matt, Tyler, and the many more tough guys that I know to all go against you at once. It won't be a pretty sight – well, for you anyway. I think it would be quite hilarious if I happened across it," she countered.

He bent down, kneeling so that they were eye-level. She could smell alcohol in his breath and she crinkled her nose in disgust. He was so close to her that their noses were nearly touching. "Okay, well let's see how that works out for you later, but right now I think you're all alone. All of your so-called 'friends' are probably off at the dance, enjoying themselves and completely forgetting about you."

He pulled her up standing suddenly and smashed his lips against hers violently, pushing her against a wall. She tried to bite at him and push him away, but it was no use. His entire body acted as a wall so she couldn't escape from his tightening hold and he held it close to hers in a way that she would definitely _not_ let just any guy hold her. Both of his arms held hers above her head, making them completely unable to budge and he was so close to her that she couldn't use her legs to kick him.

He tried to heat things up further, but it was all one sided and Poppy tried to think of anything other than what was happening to her at that moment. It was all no use, because no matter what she did, she couldn't undo the thoughts that were quickly roaming in her mind about how he was definitely going to be strong enough to finish this the way he wants unless someone came to help her. She felt tears forming in her eyes and closed them, not wanting to even see him. Then, Branson pushed himself closer to her and reached one hand towards her pants, while the other still held both arms above their heads. Poppy shut her eyes tighter, and just waited for him to ruin her, but suddenly he disappeared, making her collapse on the floor.

Her eyes snapped open and looked around the classroom until her vision landed on Alaric holding him in the air with only one arm, hand wrapped around his neck.

"What the fuck?" Branson sputtered, hardly able to speak as his windpipes were getting cut off.

"Branson, was it?" Alaric asked casually as if they were having a polite conversation on a park bench. Then, the entire mood of the room switched as he was lowered to the floor, eyelevel with the teacher. "Tell me why you thought it would be okay to do this to a defenseless girl."

Poppy closed her eyes, realizing that's exactly what she was: defenseless. And she didn't like it at all.

"She deserves what I was going to do to her. I-"

Before he could say more, his neck was snapped and he was lying on the floor, dead. Poppy watched the scene in front of her, mouth slightly open and eyes wide now in horror.

Alaric turned back to Poppy. "What a terrible person. I mean, I'm the most dangerous villain on the planet, and even I wouldn't do that," he said, frowning as he looked down at her.

She furrowed her eyebrows while she looked at him, trying to understand what exactly was going on. Alaric was definitely _not_ a vampire, and not the 'most dangerous villain.' Then it clicked. The blonde looked up at him.

"Niklaus?"

He grimaced. "It certainly has been a while since I've heard that name…"

Surprising both of them, Poppy laughed sort of hysterically and got up and hugged him tightly. This man, who had killed a countless number of people, just saved her. She thought only of this as she held onto him. He hugged her back, but not with quite as much enthusiasm.

"So you're the girl my brother is obsessed with," he said, smirking as she finally let go.

"I'm the one," she said back, still sniffling, but trying to act casual despite what had just happened. She tried to shift her weight, but bit her lip in pain when it reached her ankle. "That fucking asshole. I can't believe he was going to try to fucking rape me. What teenage douchebag would _actually_ try to rape someone?"

By saying this, she felt tears gather in her eyes but pushed them down, wrapping her arms around herself. She knew Niklaus wasn't the sensitive-type and she'd already managed to get a hug out of him, so she wasn't sure how much more he would take from her. After all, the only reason he saved her in the first place was obviously because of Elijah.

"I agree," he said, shaking his head. Although he was known for doing terrible things, he never did _that_ … Well, maybe once in the 1500's but that was a tough time for him…

Poppy studied him. "You know, you're in Alaric's body and that is _very_ weird. Though I do imagine that all of the Mikaelson's, like Elijah, have developed the hot-as-hell gene. Obviously not reaching his level or anything, but probably getting close, right?" she said, amused by his reactions to her wording.

"Well, I suppose that's somewhat accurate, but you are a bit biased. And while we're on the topic, may I ask? Why have you taken such a liking towards my brother? What exactly _is there_ to like?" he asked, only some-what teasing – the rest being completely serious. She rolled her eyes.

"Okay, yeah. You're definitely brothers. Hey, does the whole 'vampire blood heals people' thing work while you're in Ric's body, because this really hurts," she said, sighing and looking down at her stupid foot. The blonde was still forcing all of her feelings down, not really wanting to deal with them while in the presence of a man who probably didn't care about her enough to listen to her cry, like she wanted to do so badly.

"Unfortunately, no it does not have any healing qualities to it, but your friends are just in the other room," he said, obviously hinting at her to go. She nodded and turned to leave, but he stopped her. "Oh, and one more thing. Purely for my own amusement, don't tell them I'm in their friend's body."

"Sure thing, Niklaus," she said, rolling her eyes. He wasn't quite what she was expecting – he was a bit friendlier than she thought he would be. "And thank you."

"Any time."

With that, she limped off to the gym again and looked for Caroline, pushing her way through all of the dancing bodies. After a few very long minutes, she finally found her standing alone, drinking punch. Her attention immediately shifted to Poppy and she ran up to her, frowning.

"Where the hell have you been?" she asked, helping her fried since she was close to collapsing on the floor. "And what happened to you?"

Poppy sighed. Of course she wanted to hide away and cry, but a big piece of her felt a type of humility about what happened. She couldn't believe that she was so stupid, and Niklaus already dealt with him anyway... It would have been so easy to just erase what happened from her memory and never speak of it again.

She sighed, knowing that if her old therapist could see her thoughts, she would start full-on sobbing at the lack of progress. She knew what she had to say, even if she didn't want to. "James Branson tried to rape me," she said slowly, then she bit her lip afterwards, remembering the hopeless feeling of his body being forced onto hers.

Caroline's face turned from concern, to disgust, to anger. "Oh my god, sweetie." She took her friend in her arms, holding her close, but still being gentle. Poppy was stiff in the hold, not sure why. Maybe she was going to be different now. "How did you get away from him?"

The shorter girl sighed and ran her hand through her hair. She knew Niklaus told her not to tell others _who_ he was, but that didn't mean that she couldn't say that he was definitely there…

"Uh… Niklaus may have saved me from him…" she said guiltily, not sure why she felt guilty in the first place. He was of course the enemy, but he still showed her kindness in that moment.

Caroline's eyes widened about twice the size as they were before. "What the hell, Poppy? Klaus? What does he look like? Where is he?" she asked quickly. Poppy was almost glad that the topic changed. She didn't want to talk about this anymore.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you that."

"Well, why not?" she said impatiently, frustrated with her friend.

"I promised him I wouldn't tell you guys. I didn't see any reason why not to, I mean you'd figure it out eventually," she said, shrugging. Then her attention went back to her ankle. "Care, do you think that your blood will help a broken ankle? Because that would be veryconvenient at the moment."

The young vampire frowned and looked down at the injury. "I don't really see why it wouldn't," she said. Then, she bit onto her wrist and held it out for Poppy to take, which she did, drinking the gross metallic-tasting liquid.

"You know, this is much more awkward when you're giving your blood to a friend instead of your boyfriend…" Caroline said, chuckling at how weird other people must have thought this looked.

"Yeah, hopefully Elijah steps up his game when he gets back so I have my own vampire blood bag for all of my future injuries," Poppy said dryly, not quite back to herself.

"Poppy, why did Klaus help you in the first place?" Caroline asked, suddenly curious.

"Um…" She bit her lip. It was obviously because she was close with his brother, but she couldn't very well say that to Caroline… "Well, he and Elijah are… close friends. Think of it as like a mutual friend agreement type of thing. And although he doesn't have many morals that he lives by, Niklaus still knows his manners and I guess he looks down upon those, like _him_ , who completely ignore them and even fight against them. It's just how he does things, I guess."

Caroline narrowed her eyes at her. "Okay, I'm gonna act like I believe that, but just know that I have my eyes on you."

She smiled without feeling it. "Yep, of course you do. And I think my ankle is all better now. Thank you, Caroline."

"There's no reason to thank me, Poppy. You deserve better than any of this. I still can't believe someone would do that to you. Consider me your personal body guard. You should be safe, and if it's going to take me having to be by your side 24/7, then so be it," the young vampire said.

"Thanks, seriously, but I don't think I'll need 24/7 protection. And if I _do_ end up getting myself into trouble, you or Stefan or Niklaus or _someone_ will be there, like they always are. So there isn't any reason to worry about me right now. It's all over now. But I should probably go. I told you that dances never go well for me, and tonight I almost got... well, I definitely didn't enjoy myself. So let's say this is the last one I'll be going to for a while. Bye, Care."

"… I guess if you insist. Just know that I'm always here to help you, okay? Bye, Poppy. I'll tell the others that you left."

Caroline hugged her tightly and then Poppy left the dance, walking quickly to Elijah's car. She got in and leaned her head against the wheel, taking in the scent and going over what just happened. She watched as her tears slid from her face to the leather, finally falling onto the floor. After that night, she wondered once again how much longer she could take being without Elijah. The month that they spent knowing each other changed how Poppy thought about everything – he helped her with understanding the world she was in, and doing the small things, like reading old literature together, was always the highlight of her day. She knew how childish she seemed, still having this reaction more than a week after he was gone, but she really couldn't help the constant pain inside of her.

Finally, she wiped her eyes and put her hair up in a messy bun and drove back home. The night hadn't gone at all how she'd expected it, and she was ready to change into pajamas {… or Elijah's shirt} and just go to bed, trying to forget everything that had happened.

* * *

 _ **Yeah, I know. This chapter is really, really short, but I'm going to post another one right after this, so calm yourselves.**_

 _ **Anyway, Poppy is really struggling right now, isn't she? I feel bad, but at the same time I feel like something bad had to happen, plus it sort of gave her and Klaus a small bonding moment. Before any of you ask this, NO there will not be any love triangles of any sort, but she will still bond with all of the Originals differently. I feel like her and Rebekah would be an amazing, badass pair of friends, so that's definitely happening.**_

 _ **Sorry for taking so long to post this – I was seriously considering completely scrapping this and the following chapters, as I don't really care for them much, but hopefully you all can forgive me!**_

 _ **As always, please send your feedback! I love you all!**_

 _ **~Alissa**_


	15. Reunions

_***RING RING RING***_

Poppy glared down at her phone to see the words, 'Elena Calling' once again, for the 14th time in the past six minutes. There were also four texts, all telling her to go to the Lockwood Mansion. What did she need from her? Didn't she know that she was obviously trying to avoid her?

 _ ***RING RING RING***_

Finally, she gave up and answered. "What the hell do you want, Elena? In case you've forgotten, I'm still holding a grudge. That's what happens when you kill someone's best friend, if you didn't know," she snapped.

"Poppy, you need to come to the Lockwood Mansion, now. Seriously I think it will be worth it," her sister said on the other line. The blonde frowned, noticing how genuine she sounded. What was it that could be so important?

She sighed and closed her eyes before finally deciding. "Fine, I'll be there in 15."

With that, she hung up and looked for something other than pajamas to wear when going to the Lockwood's. It was the day after the dance, so she still wasn't nearly recovered from the James Branson incident, but she was trying to work on it gradually. While looking through her clothes, she quickly decided on wearing black jeans and a slightly over-sized white v neck, an oversized black zip-up hoodie, along with nude flats. Her hair was already in a braid, so she decided to leave it.

She drove Elijah's car straight to the Lockwood Estate, knowing that if her sister sounded so serious, it was probably an urgent manner… Especially if she was calling _her_ of all people. These thoughts only made her drive faster, and she got there in record time, arriving a few minutes early.

Poppy got out of the car and began walking up the long driveway. "Elena, I'm here. Now tell me what the hell you want before I le-"

She cut herself off when she looked up. It felt like everything froze around her, and she heard the keys fall on the ground, but didn't make a move to pick them up. All that she could do for that moment was stare.

Because standing in front of her was Elijah Mikaelson.

A smile spread across her face and she ran as fast as she could towards him and she hugged him tightly, burying her face into his shoulder. Immediately, she felt him hug her back and he lifted her up from the ground and spun her before setting her back down, which made her laugh happily. They stood like that for a moment Poppy just soaking him in, before she finally pushed him away, shaking her head at him.

"Damn, you! I _told_ you. I told you to just leave Mystic Falls, to not go running back to my sister. And what did you do?" she said, raising her eyebrows at him. He was currently trying not to chuckle at her tone. "You went off and got yourself daggered. Thanks for that, by the way. You left me all alone to deal with the goddamn Scooby Gang by myself, and you also nearly mi-"

"Poppy," he said, interrupted her. She shifted her weight and looked up at him, crossing her arms. "I'm glad to see you too."

They both smiled at each other again and she was about to reply when Elena decided it would be a good time to speak up.

"Sorry to break up the reunion," she said, looking awkwardly at her twin and the Original. "I still have a lot of questions that I think you have the answers to. Could we maybe sit inside?"

The blonde looked over at her sister, her smile faltering, but she took Elijah's hand and followed her inside.

"I still don't get why you're trusting her," she said, not even bothering to whisper because she knew her sister would listen in regardless. "I mean, the idiot actually managed to dagger you – I would be pretty pissed if I were you, so why are you acting all buddy-buddy?"

"You do realize that I can hear you, right?" Elena said. Poppy nodded.

"Yep. Anyway, don't you think that you should put a little more thought into this decision? She hasn't exactly proven herself to be the most trustworthy person."

Elijah sighed and looked down at her. "Of course I'm concerned, but I have faith that Elena will make the right decision. You know your sister more than anyone, so you know that she has more compassion than most people can wish for. She wouldn't do anything that would put her family in danger, and now that I'm back, I'm sure she will be much more… behaved, I suppose you could say."

She shook her head, smiling. "Yeah, surely."

The doppelgänger cleared her throat, looking at the two who sat on the couch across from her. Poppy turned her head to her sister and raised an eyebrow.

"So, you kill my best friend. You wake him up again. You _invite me_ to come see him. You don't want us to talk to each other… I'm not really following," she said. Elena looked up to the ceiling and sighed. She didn't know why she thought Poppy would get any better with Elijah back, but that obviously wasn't going to be happening any time soon.

"He made me get ahold of you until you said you'd come here. Trust me, he can be _very_ persistent."

Poppy smiled and looked over at him. "Aww, did you miss me? That's cute," she said, bumping her knee against his playfully. He rolled his eyes at her.

"You stole my car," he said.

"It's not stealing if the owner is temporarily dead. Plus I didn't want to have to ride with my annoying twin every day, right after she killed you," she replied.

"Okay, guys. Can this happen later? We're sort of on a tight schedule, and I want to get this over with before Damon decides to come here and ruin everything," Elena said. The two turned back to her and she smiled tightly. "Thank you."

"So I assume that the Martin witches are no longer with us," he said.

"No. I'm sorry." Poppy scoffed when she heard her sister say this, but they both chose to ignore her.

"And Katerina? She would have been released from my compulsion when I died."

"Klaus took her. We think that she may be dead."

"I doubt that. Not Klaus' style. Death would be too easy for her after what she did," he explained. Poppy leaned back into the couch, knowing that this would take a while.

"I don't understand. You say that you want Klaus dead, but you still make Katherine pay for betraying him."

"I have my own reasons for wanting Katerina to pay. There was a time where I would have done anything for Niklaus," he explained, leaning back as well. He prepared himself to go back to the memories when first introducing his brother to the doppelgänger that ruined everything.

* * *

" _From where have you come, Katerina?" a 15_ _th_ _century Klaus asked. They were at a party, full of guests and the three stood in the crowd full of ladies and lords that were worthy enough to be invited._

" _I'm new to town, my lord," she replied, subtly avoiding the answer. Elijah looked over at Klaus, smiling._

" _Katerina is from Bulgaria," he answered for her. Klaus' eyes lit up in recognition._

"Zdravei, _Katerina," he said, which got a delighted laugh in return from the girl._

" _Very good!"_

 _Klaus then turned from the girl, to Elijah. "Do you mind, brother? I would like to have a moment alone with her," he said._

" _No, not at all. Happy Birthday, brother." Klaus and Katerina walked away, conversing together as they did._

* * *

"Yes. Niklaus is my brother," he said casually. Poppy rolled her eyes.

"I'm still surprised about how long it took you to realize that. I mean, it's really not that hard to connect the dots. Plus, why else would he have done that thing for me that he did last night?" she said, hinting to him saving her. For some reason, she didn't want to tell Elijah yet, deciding that this could wait for a later time.

Elena and Elijah frowned, for very different reasons.

"What was it that my brother did for you?" he asked, temporarily distracted. Poppy sighed and looked down at her hands.

"That's another story, for another time. And probably not one that you'll like very much, but it does have a somewhat pleasant ending," she said, now allowing herself to make eye contact. He still looked concerned, but nodded instead of pressing the subject further.

"Listen, I'm sorry, but I'm still processing. Klaus is seriously your brother?" Elena asked, interrupting the two again.

"Yes," Elijah said, slowly turning his attention back to the older sister. "I'm a little behind on the times, but I believe the term you're searching for is 'OMG.'"

"Or maybe, 'I can't even.' Perhaps, 'I'm dying.' I feel like all of those would fit into context, correct me if I'm wrong," Poppy said, smirking as she looked up at Elijah who reached for his tea.

"Wait, so there's a whole family of Originals?" she asked.

"My father was a wealthy land owner in a village in Eastern Europe," he explained, putting his tea down and leaning back again. "Our mother bore seven children."

"So your parents were human?"

"Our whole family was. Our origin as vampires is a very long story, Elena. Just know… We're the oldest vampires in the world. We are the Original family, and from us all vampires were created."

"Right," Elena said, nodding. "But Klaus is your brother. And you want him dead?"

"I need some air," Elijah said suddenly, getting up from his seat. "I'm still feeling a tad… dead. Come."

Poppy reached her hand towards his and he pulled her off the couch quickly, making her laugh at the feeling. "What _is_ it like when you're daggered? I heard something about 'The Other Side' earlier when Elena was telling me about the supernatural world. So do you, like, go there for the time being? How does it all work?" she asked, looking up at him while they walked outside.

He sighed and looked down at her. "It's all black. It's just as if you were put into a deep sleep and you have no idea how much time has passed by, and there is no access to thoughts or memories. The darkness swallows you whole and there's no way you can escape it alone," he explained, holding back a shudder from the bad memories. She furrowed her eyebrows and leaned her head against his shoulder. Well, sort of against his arm since he was so much taller than her.

"I'm sorry you have to go through that all the time with Niklaus. If I were to get trapped in an eternity with anyone, it would definitely _not_ be him," she said. He sighed.

"Yes, but no one has suffered more than my brother Finn. He's been daggered for 900 years, and Kol has been daggered for quite some time as well. For Kol, it's more off and on – let's just say that he runs into trouble much more easily than my other siblings," he said, a small smile spreading across his face at the thought of his little brother's wildness.

"Yeah, I can imagine why Niklaus would get impatient with Kol after what you've told me…" she said, smiling with him.

Then, Elena caught up and walked next to them. "Wait, I still have more that I have to know," she said, still trying to get information.

Elijah sighed impatiently. If he were to be honest, he had to say that he would much rather be spending time with Poppy rather than the other Gilbert girl, but he knew that she was valuable when it came to killing Niklaus, so he continued. "So as you've seen, nothing can kill an Original. Not Sun, not fire, not even a werewolf bite. Only the wood from one tree. A tree my family made sure burned."

"That's where the white ash for the dagger comes from," Elena said, nodding in understanding.

"Yes. The witches won't allow anything truly immortal to walk the earth. Every creature needs to have a weakness in order to maintain the balance."

"Wait, so if someone, like, beheads one of you, would you just walk around like a chicken? What exactly would happen in that situation?" Poppy asked, frowning. He looked down at her and rolled his eyes.

"I can't very well answer that, seeing as none of us have had our heads separated from our bodies," he answered as if speaking with a five-year-old. She stuck her tongue out at him quickly and they returned to their conversation.

"So the Sun can't kill an Original. Why is Klaus so obsessed with breaking the Sun and Moon curse?" Elena asked, frowning.

"Right. The curse of the sun and the moon," he said in amusement. "It's all so… biblical-sounding, don't you think?"

He smiled, holding back a chuckle and Poppy's eyes widened, connecting the dots.

"You _didn't._ There's no way. You guys are so ridiculous," she said, just as Elena asked, "What's so funny?"

* * *

 _Niklaus sat in his bedroom, a fire roaring in front of him as a woman stood under his compulsion. In his mind, it was the perfect autumn evening, without any responsibilities to tend to until Elijah entered the room._

" _Look," he said, showing him something. "A Roman parchment."_

" _I remember etching this scroll," Niklaus said sentimentally, looking at it. He then smiled. "Well, I was quite blistered from drink."_

" _Your finest work remains your Aztec drawings," Elijah said, walking around the room distractedly._

" _Not the African carvings?" he asked. "'Cause I was quite proud of those."_

" _The Aztec," Elijah said quickly. "Who can resist a shaman?"_

" _Yes!" Niklaus laughed happily, thinking of the many pieces he'd made._

* * *

"And you totally did. I can't believe you seriously did that," Poppy said, shaking her head and smiling.

"But I don't understand," Elena said. The blonde rolled her eyes at her sister's slowness. "So Klaus drew the Aztec sketches about the curse?"

"Obviously-" Poppy began, but Elijah interrupted her, knowing that what she was going to say wouldn't be to Elena's benefit and he wanted to get the meeting over with.

"Roman scrolls, African tribal etchings, and any other culture or continent we felt like planting in it," he said.

"But why?"

"The easiest way to discover the existence of a doppelgänger or to get your hands on some long, lost moonstone is to have every single member of two warring species on the lookout," Elijah said, smiling as Elena finally began to understand.

"So… It's not Aztec at all?" she asked.

Poppy sighed and threw her hands in the air at her sister's lack of ability to connect the dots. "Dude, the curse of the Sun and the Moon doesn't exist. They _made it up,"_ the blonde said to her sister. Elijah smiled and walked away, pulling her with him.

"What?!" Elena said before running after them.

"It's so funny to watch her when she's all confused," Poppy said. "She, like, gets a little crease right above her nose and her voice gets all high pitched. It adorable."

Elijah shook his head in amusement before going on with the story. "Niklaus and I faked the sun and the moon curse dating back over a thousand years," he said.

"But if there's no curse…" Elena said, still working a little to catch up with them.

"There's a curse," he said quickly. "Just not that one. The real one's much worse. It's a curse placed on Klaus."

"What are you talking about?"

"Niklaus has been trying to break it for the last thousand years. And you are his only hope," he said dramatically. Poppy let out a very unladylike snort and shook her head. "Thank you, Poppy for sharing your thoughts so obviously with us."

"No problem, Eli. That's what I'm here for," she said, smiling at him. She then noticed that Elena's phone was vibrating in his pocket, causing a loud noise which she rolled her eyes at.

"What is this curse?" Elena asked, ignoring the sound of her phone.

He was about to answer her before it buzzed again. The Original finally took it out of his jacket and handed it over to Elena. "Your phone will not stop its incessant buzzing. Answer it, please."

She took the phone and answered it quickly. "Stefan… What's wrong?" she asked into the phone. There was a pause as he replied to her. "No. No, no, no, no, no. Okay I'll be right there."

She hung up and looked at Poppy and Elijah, shaking her head and frowning. "Klaus went after Jenna. I have to go to her."

"Oh my god, seriously? That little asshole, what does he think he's doing?" Poppy asked, sighing. One minute he was saving her, the next he was trying to kill her aunt?

"I'm afraid that wasn't part of today's arrangement," Elijah said, still unsure about whether to trust the doppelgänger or not. The brunette began to panic, shifting on her feet.

"She's my family, Elijah. I have to. I'll be back. You have my word."

The Original was still hesitant, so Poppy squeezed his hand and gave him a look. "She's my aunt too, Elijah. Just let her go," she said. He sighed and looked back to the other girl.

"Your word doesn't mean anything to me until you live up to it," he said.

"Thank you," Elena said sincerely before running off to go.

Poppy smiled at him. "Thank you," she said.

With that, Elena was gone, leaving them to their own devices – which Poppy was very pleased about. Her sister sort of brought down the mood of her friend being back...

The two decided to continue walking along the Lockwood estate, not having anything better to do than just enjoying their surroundings and each other's company. It was a lovely sunny day, one of the first they'd had in Mystic Falls in a long time, since it was still late winter, nearly spring.

"I really did miss you, Mikaelson," the blonde said, leaning her head against him again as they walked. "It was sort of pathetic, really. But I eventually made snickerdoodles and decided that I could live my life normally without having the dashing Elijah Mikaelson by my side all the time. Though it was difficult, I managed to persevere."

He smiled at down at her. "Yes, well I can imagine how lonely you must have felt without me," he said. She lifted her head from his arm and looked up, eyebrows lifted in surprise.

"Elijah Mikaelson. Did you just go all Poppy Gilbert on me?" she asked, laughing. What he said was so similar to many things she recalled saying in her life, and it was strange hearing it from his mouth.

The Original chuckled at her way of putting it. "I suppose that's one way to say it. But if it's any consolation, I would have much rather spent my time with you rather than being daggered," he said.

"Oh, shut up," she said, rolling her eyes at him. They stopped walking and looked at each other for a moment.

"What did Niklaus do yesterday?" he asked, his curiosity coming back from her small comment that she made to Elena earlier. She frowned and looked down, twisting a stray hair around her finger, not really wanting to tell him, but knowing she'd have to eventually.

"Elijah…" she began, but she didn't know how she should start. Considering it was slightly important to the story, she began with the day after he was daggered. "Okay, here we go. I went to school the day after you died, or whatever you call it, insisting even though Caroline said I should have just stayed home. Which would have probably prevented the whole thing from happening, now that I think about it… Anyway, I went to school and I was walking to class when this guy started provoking me, and before I knew it, he was on the floor in front of me after I very thoroughly beat him up, and I was on my way to the principal's office."

She looked at him hesitantly, seeing that she had his full attention. He was amused with where the story was at so far, but she guessed that this feeling wouldn't last much longer. The blonde bit her lip nervously before continuing with the story. "So, yesterday was the dance and Caroline made me go so that I wouldn't be hiding at home and I was bored, so I decided to just sort of roam the hallways, as one does. Before I knew it, the same guy covered my mouth picked me up and took me to this unused classroom. I'm sure you can connect the dots, but…"

Poppy stopped herself before she said anymore. Tears were now flowing down her face, but she'd managed to keep her voice from getting too shaky until then. She closed her eyes and made herself take a deep breath and continued, wrapping her arms around herself as she recalled everything that happened.

"Elijah, he tried to rape me. And your brother saved me because he knew how close we were, and if he hadn't, I don't even know w-"

"You don't have to say anymore, Poppy," Elijah said softly, looking at her with concerned eyes. He'd never seen her so distraught and he was a little taken aback by it, but was ready to comfort her regardless. "How anyone could ever harm you is beyond me."

"But it happened. And he was close," she said, shaking her head as she thought about it. "Elijah, he was _so close._ "

Without needing to think, he wrapped his arms around her, letting her get everything out as he held her. He held her and she let him, all the while crying into his shirt and probably ruining any chance of him wearing it out again. She clutched onto him as if he were a buoy in the middle of a hurricane and he was the only thing that was keeping her afloat.

A part of her felt disgusted by the thought of having any type of physical contact with anyone, but she just wanted to be held by him, and comforted. All that she wanted was to be able to shove that little voice down as far as she could, so that she could spend time with her friend. Unfortunately, whenever she tried to do this, it would come back up and make her feel even worse over time.

Poppy took a deep breath and moved her head a bit away from his chest, not able to handle the contact anymore. "Sorry. It's still sort of an open wound..." she said, stepping away and wiping her tears quickly.

Elijah watched her, frowning at the sight in front of him. He'd never pictured her crying like this in a million years, let alone from something so terrible happening to her. Hearing everything she had told him, it felt like he was in another world – the idea of anyone trying to hurt her surprised him, and he didn't understand how anyone could be so cruel.

"There's no need to apologize, as there is nothing to apologize for," he said gently. He tried to make eye contact, but she shifted her vision to the ground, not wanting to have to see him while she had her moment. "Poppy, look at me." The blonde only shook her head and closed her eyes, trying to collect her thoughts, but he wouldn't have that. He brought his hand up to her chin and lifted it gently, forcing her to look up at him. Her green eyes finally opened and met his brown ones.

"Elijah, I really don't want to go over it anymore. It happened, and it's over. Niklaus saved me and I will always be thankful to him. But please don't try to get me to let out my emotions or whatever, as I'm sure Elena will try to do later. I will talk about it later. Just not right now. I'll let you know when I'm ready, but all that I want to do now is snoop in the Lockwood mansion and find some old literature to read. After all, it has been an entire week since we've read together," she said, a small smile playing on her lips. Poppy was ready to put everything behind her for the time being; why would she want to talk about the horror that she lived through when she'd just gotten her best friend back anyway?

The Original looked skeptical at first, frowning at how easily his friend could wave this off, but eventually gave in and nodded slowly. "Alright," was all that he said. He then turned and began walking back towards the mansion again.

"That's it?" she asked, smirking. "That was much easier than I thought it would be."

She ran up, catching up to him and wrapped her arm around his shoulders awkwardly, considering how much taller he was compared to her, shoving away any negative feelings. "But dude, can you believe that I beat that kid up? He was, like, an entire foot taller than me. Thank god my good ol' parents had me take self-defense classes. Also, I should probably find some time to talk with Niklaus again to properly thank him for saving me."

He rolled his eyes at her and took her arm from his shoulders, realizing how uncomfortable it must have been and instead wrapped his own arm around her. She casually rested her head on his chest as they walked. "I don't believe it would be wise to make contact with my brother for any reason, but I highly doubt you will listen to my suggestions, knowing you."

She looked up at him and smirked. "You know me so well."

* * *

 _ **This one included a lot of quotes from the show, but hopefully it wasn't too repetitive – plus you got an nice Elipy moment at the end, which I'm sure you all appreciated after he was gone for like 3 chapters. You can also see how she's dealing with the recent events in this, and what her thoughts have been like through all of it. Please remember that no one's experience with a horror like that is going to be the same, and that everyone goes through it in different ways. Poppy seems to be the type to shove it all out of her mind and decide to deal with it later, so we'll see what happens with that.**_

 _ **I love you all so much! Please send your feedback and what you think about their moments with him officially back – I love to read what you guys think!**_

 _ **Thank you guys, so much for all of the reviews for that last chapter. I was**_ **so** _ **hesitant when posting that, but from all of your positive feedback, I'm keeping it up. It honestly means so much to me, how many of you are reading and following this story. The huge gap of update time hopefully won't happen again, and you're continued support will only encourage me to write more!**_

 _ **~Alissa**_


	16. A Brief History Lesson

On their walk back to the mansion, naturally, it began raining. Hard.

Elijah was quick to simply pick her up and run to the house so that they wouldn't get too effected by it, but his speed didn't seem to help much. By the time that he got them inside, they both were already drenched.

The moment he stopped running, Poppy pushed herself off of him in surprise, but then fell onto the floor in her effort to maintain balance. "Shit," she mumbled to herself, "Dude, give me a bit of a warning next time, won't you? My mind is still sort of weird with adjusting at the moment, since you, like, _just_ came back to life." She then looked around, realizing that she was still on the floor and rolled her eyes and groaned at the idea of having to pick herself up again. So much work.

Instead of making her have to live through that difficulty, Elijah helped her up, chuckling at her cursing. He led her toward one of the couches, but she stopped him before she could sit.

"Elijah, my hair is dripping wet, and that upholstery is probably more expensive than the entire Nordstrom store chain. I'm not going to be sitting down on it, I can deal," she said, now able to stand on her own.

"Whatever you say," he said, holding back a smile at her comment.

This went unnoticed by her when the blonde looked at her darkened hair, which was likely going to dry incredibly frizzy since she didn't have any product in it. She groaned and made her way through the familiar house, finally finding the bathroom that was stocked with towels. She grabbed two and made her way back to where they were previously sat with Elena and smiled when she saw the fireplace that was now lit and crackling, the only other noise being the rain pounding on the house.

Elijah walked up to her and took one of the towels, drying himself off as she wrapped her own around her hair so that it could be a bit more workable later on, and slipped her shoes off.

"I believe my keys are still out in the rain if I remember correctly...?" he said to her, remembering how she'd dropped them earlier. She just nodded and messed with her fingers as he ran out to grab them.

When he came back in, he held one of the suits he kept in the trunk, along with a blood bag. She bit her lip when she noticed that the suit was definitely the one she'd taken the shirt from. Wonderful.

He unfolded the jacket, expecting the shirt to be there and frowned when it wasn't.

"Uh, yeah, okay," she said before he could ask about it. She wrung her hands awkwardly and resisted the urge to bite her lip further, knowing that it would draw blood. "So, that shirt may have somehow ended up in my room. No idea how, it just sort of appeared… Yeah, it appeared, and then I was like, 'That's Elijah's shirt, how weird of it to mysteriously materialize right in front of me.' And I guess that it just didn't exactly make its way back – some inanimate obje-"

"Stop speaking, Poppy," he said, rolling his eyes at her. He wasn't exactly sure why he thought she would be any less annoying when he came back, but here she was; babbling as if no time had passed. "While I in no way believe your story, I'll go along with it so you won't feel as uncomfortable as you clearly feel right now."

She smiled widely at him, clearly thanking him for not forcing her to feed her lie further. Then, she walked over – hair no longer dripping – and sat down on the couch, leaning back into it. She sighed and closed her eyes. "You know, if I were Tyler Lockwood, I would totally take advantage of this place. He's off being weird and playing sports, when he could be in his frigging mansion, in the theater I know they have here, watching Netflix. Or taking a nice bath in their beautiful claw-foot tubs... I just don't get it."

"How unheard of," he replied sarcastically, smiling at her and shaking his head. "What do you do when there isn't a television around, or old literature?"

"I read _new_ literature," she said. He glared at her and she laughed. "I crochet. And I knit. And I write, though I don't really care for handwriting as much as typing with my typewriter or laptop. I find that it's easier to find my place that way and correct old mistakes," Poppy said, turning so her head was against the arm of the couch and her feet were propped up on the other side.

Elijah walked over to the couch and she lifted her legs, letting him sit down before she rested them back down on his lap. "I would have never guessed that you would have the patience for crocheting," he commented, looking down at her peaceful face on the other side of the couch.

"Yeah, it helps with that. I actually crochet normally while I'm watching TV, so I have, like, ten blankets that I've made. But sometimes I get into this really weird zone where I just obsessively crochet for three hours straight without breaking for anything – it's sort of weird," she said, frowning as she tried to blow a piece of hair from her face. It wasn't working, but she was too lazy to bring her hand up, so she just left it there. "But what do you do during your spare time? Other than ripping out the hearts of your enemies, of course."

He gave her a small smile. "You will never let me live that down, will you?"

"Of course not, Elijah. You broke through someone's bones with your bare hand and tore their second most valuable organ out. Not to mention that you just had to pull your sleeves up first so you wouldn't ruin your expensive suit with the blood," she said, chuckling and rolling her eyes.

"Would you prefer that I ruin a Burberry?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and knowing her answer.

He wasn't disappointed.

"Holy shit, Burberry?" was were immediate response. She raised her head a little to look at him. "You really use compulsion to your advantage, don't you? I wish more guys wore suits every day – it looks much nicer than sagging, ripped up jeans. Who came up with that idea, by the way? I would like to meet them and strangle them because it's seriously a crime against humanity that's even worse than murder."

"The trend began in the 1990's, but I'm unsure who it was that it truly originated from," he said, looking down at the girl's socks that were solid white until where her toes were, which showed the face of a fox on each.

"The only trend that should progress further that was created in the 1990's were scrunchies. But maybe that was the 80's… Oh! And Rachel's hairstyle from the first season of Friends – I wish that I could pull that off, because she was stylin," Poppy said, twisting one of her own locks of hair slowly.

"Well," he said, putting the subject back to its original purpose. "In my free time, I enjoy learning new languages; I've found that if I'm going to have an eternal existence, it's only fair that I can understand others when they try to speak with me. I have also picked up the art of cooking, and I had the pleasure of meeting Julia Child herself."

Poppy's peaceful face suddenly turned into a surprised one. "Hold up, homie. You met _Julia Child._ Who the hell _are you_? I mean, I can't cook to save my life – I've always been more of a baker – but oh my god, I never thought... Okay, so this just adds to the list of cool people you've met who are now dead. Not fair at all, in my opinion. I mean, you met Will, and now Julia? Vampires are so _cool._ "

Before he could reply, Elena entered the room, looking emotionally drained, and raised her eyebrows in surprise when she saw how casually the two were sat.

"I see you've made yourselves comfortable…" she said quietly, looking around at the fire that was now lit. Poppy rolled her eyes, but Elijah simply sighed.

"Welcome back," he said. He was pleased that she'd kept her promise, but was still somewhat frustrated that he couldn't continue being in the company of his friend alone. Throughout the short time that they'd known each other, they'd become quite close – more than Elijah thought was possible at this point in his existence. It was strange for him to have someone who he could trust so easily and so quickly, but now that he had it, he didn't want to let it go.

Turning back to Elena, he dragged his thoughts away from his blonde friend and back to the issue at hand.

"Tell me," Elena said, getting straight to business. "What is Klaus's curse?"

She took her jacket off and sat down at a chair across from the two who hadn't bothered to correct their positions.

"My family was quite close," he began, looking down at the blonde's socks once again. "But Niklaus and my father did not get on too well. When we became vampires, we discovered the truth. Klaus was not my father's son." Cue startled gasp from Elena. Poppy twiddled with her thumbs as he recounted the story that she'd already heard. "My mother had been unfaithful many years before. This was her darkest secret. Niklaus is from a different bloodline. Of course, when my father discovered this, he hunted down and he killed my mother's lover and his entire family. Not realizing, of course, that he was igniting a war between species that rages until this day."

"Hold up," Poppy said, never hearing this small detail to the story. "A war between the species?"

"The vampires… and the werewolves," he said, which lit recognition in her eyes as she remembered that Niklaus was a hybrid.

"So Klaus' real father was from a werewolf bloodline?" Elena asked, still out of the loop. "What does that make Klaus? A werewolf? Or a vampire?"

"He's both. A hybrid would be deadlier than any werewolf or vampire. Nature would not stand for such an imbalance of power. Therefore the witches, the servants of nature, saw to it that my brother's werewolf side would become dormant," he explained. Elena nodded.

"That's the curse that Klaus wants to break?"

"Obviously," Poppy said, which caused a tug on Elijah's lips, trying not to smirk. She sat up and moved her feet from his lap, instead leaning against his side, all without paying attention to her movements. "He wants to trigger his werewolf side, and wants to sire a bloodline so he can create his own species. Niklaus is clearly incredibly lonely since he'd always been hated so much by Mikael, who he'd always wished to please, and all that he wants is for people to want to be around him, even if that means forcing them into it with a sire bond. Meaning, more hybrids and less Elena…"

Elena shook her head and frowned, turning to Elijah. "But you helped him?" she asked.

"I helped him because I loved him," he replied. He locked his jaw and looked down. "That's changed, now he must die."

"We have the dagger now. We can stop him."

"When a werewolf is wounded by silver, it heals," Elijah said, knowing what she was trying to get at. "An Original can't be killed by anything but white oak ash on a silver dagger. So you see the conundrum. The dagger does not work."

"Of course it doesn't…" Poppy said, rolling her eyes. "The supernatural world certainly doesn't make it easy to find ways to kill people."

"No, it does not," he replied, clearly annoyed by this fact.

"Wait…" Elena said, staying with the frown that seemed to always be formed on her face as of late. "Are you saying that Klaus can't be killed?"

Elijah shook his head and shifted slightly and hid a smile when he felt Poppy adjust herself against his side to get more comfortable. "There's only one way to kill any supernatural species… At the hands of the servants of nature themselves," he explained.

"A witch. If they can channel that much power. But it would kill them," Elena pointed out.

"The curse must be broken during the full moon. When Niklaus is in transition. That's when he'll be at his most vulnerable. A witch with enough power… can kill Klaus."

"What if I told you that I knew a witch that could channel that much power?" she asked.

"Then I would tell you there's one more thing that you should know," he said.

* * *

 _Niklaus stood nearby a fireplace, relishing in the idea of what was soon to happen. Elijah then entered the room, and Klaus turned towards him._

" _The full moon is tomorrow, brother," he said, hardly hiding the excitement that could easily be recognized in his voice. "After all these centuries, it is finally time."_

" _I have been to see the witches. They believe they may have found a way to spare the doppelgänger," Elijah said slowly, wondering how his brother would take the news._

" _What does it matter if she lives or not?" Niklaus scoffed. Elijah sighed; of course he wouldn't take it well. Why would he? "She's a means to an end that is all."_

" _What, she should die for your gain?" he asked, stepping closer to him._

" _She is human," Niklaus said, as if it explained everything. "Her life means nothing."_

" _I beg you to consider this."_

 _At this, Niklaus frowned and took a small step back. "Are you so foolish as to care for her?"_

" _Of course not," he lied._

 _Klaus walked up closer to him, standing less than a foot away. He had never been one for personal space. "Love is a vampire's greatest weakness, and we are not weak, Elijah. We do not feel, and we do not care."_

" _We did once," he replied, looking his younger brother in the eye._

" _Too many lifetimes ago to matter," he said. Then he stepped back towards the fireplace where he'd been standing before. "Tell the witches not to bother. The sacrifice will happen as planned."_

* * *

"You found a way to save the life of the doppelgänger?"

"Yes, Elena," he replied. "I did. But unfortunately, Katerina took matters into her own hands first. I believe you already know how that played out."

"You cared about her, didn't you?" Elena asked, frowning at the man in front of her. Poppy looked down at her hands, knowing that this was likely a difficult subject for him.

"It's a common mistake, I'm told. And it's one I won't make again," he said simply.

After that, he was quick to get up to leave the house with the younger twin. Poppy followed him with nothing more than a nod to her sister before turning to exit the mansion. Before they could go off, though, Elena stopped them.

"Wait! We should probably go to the Boarding House and tell Stefan and Damon our new agreement," she said, causing Poppy to groan loudly in annoyance.

"Seriously? I _really_ don't want to deal with Damon today. Plus, I'm pretty sure that Stefan's gonna be a bit pissed that I didn't tell you guys that Alaric was Niklaus right away..." she said, looking down and frowning. Elena shook her head.

"Stefan is fine with it. He doesn't care, really, and understands why you kept it from us after Caroline told us everything."

"Damnit, Caroline..." Poppy said quietly, shaking her head. Of course her closest friend just happened to be the world's shittiest liar. She rolled her eyes, then looked back up at Elijah. He gave her a look that clearly told her to just go along with it, and if she didn't he would make her anyway. The blonde sighed. Of course he wanted to meet with them and do what was right, and she wasn't going to leave him after losing him for more than a week. She huffed and crossed her arms. "Fine, we'll go."

"Wonderful," Elijah said, turning and walking towards his car. "Poppy can travel with me."

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Please; I can travel with whomever I wish." Both of them looked pointedly at her, causing her to smile. "And I choose to travel with Elijah. Bye, sis'." The last word was spit out almost mockingly, and she made her way over to where she'd parked the expensive car.

"I wish you could be more understanding towards your sister," he said when both doors to the car were closed. Poppy scoffed and crossed her arms.

"And how can I be _understanding?_ She neglected to tell me about the supernatural world for a year-"

"To protect you."

"She didn't tell me about who our _real parents were_ -"

"How can that be explained?"

"She _killed_ you!" she yelled, exasperated with the idea that he's completely fine with everything that her sister had done.

"She put me in a temporary sleep," he said, trying to calm her back down again.

"And you believe that she knew it was temporary when she did it?" the girl was no longer yelling, but was still clearly frustrated. His unwavering trust in Elena was truly annoying her at this point, and she didn't understand how he could be alright with everything that she'd caused.

"I believe that she thought she was being threatened and acted on it to the best of her ability."

"Elijah, I'm done with this conversation. I will not be forgiving Elena anytime soon, so don't count on it. She began digging the grave of our twin-bond-thing when she started lying to me a year or so ago. She doesn't deserve forgiveness, especially not so soon," she said, sitting back and looking away from him in annoyance. There was no bone in her body that was telling her to forgive her sister. Of course when confronted with those infamous doe-eyes, her feelings began to change a bit, but she knew her true opinions on the subject.

The rest of the car ride was spent in a tense silence, but it wasn't long until they were at the Boarding House and they acted as if nothing happened, Elijah holding her door as usual and Poppy thanking him in return.

The other Gilbert girl joined them and they walked inside, only to be greeted by shouting. This was then followed by a loud crash, which Elena immediately ran to. When Poppy quickly walked to the study, what she saw didn't surprise her. Stefan and Damon were in a fight, once again, that likely had something to do with Elena... And this was _exactly_ why she was sick of spending time with her sister. How was she ever able to look past the drama before?

"Now you've invited him in?" were Damon's only words.

"Elijah and I have renewed the terms of our deal," Elena said carefully, knowing very well that Damon would probably not appreciate what was going on.

"Really?"

"The two of you will come to no harm at my hands. I only ask for one thing in return," Elijah said, slowly and casually stepping closer to the brothers.

"What?" Damon snapped.

"An apology."

"A what?" the older brother snickered, rolling his eyes.

Poppy scoffed. "You heard him asshole-"

"Shut up Gilbert-"

"Don't tell me what to do, you disgusting leech-"

"Guys!" Stefan yelled, getting the two to stop. He then turned back to Elijah and looked at him sincerely. "I'm sorry for the part that I played in your death. I was protecting Elena. I will always protect Elena."

The blonde rolled her eyes at the last {unnecessary} sentence, but Elijah showed that he understood and accepted the apology. After that, all eyes turned to Damon. It was clear that he was going to need a push.

"The sacrifice is going to happen, Damon," Elena said to him. "Bonnie will be able to kill Klaus without hurting herself and Elijah knows how to save my life. I told you I'd find another way. And I did."

"Is that true?"

Poppy refused to believe that Damon was actually starting to reconsider, so she kept her hopes low when she heard him say this.

"It is," Elijah answered.

He turned back to Elena. "And you're trusting him?" he asked.

"I am."

After a slight pause, he spoke again. "You can all go to hell."

With that, he left the room. "Well, no surprise there. The little asshole couldn't even try to think differently. I mean, he could have at least attempted to see things our way..." Poppy said.

Stefan looked down with furrowed brows and a frown. "He's angry with me right now. But he'll come around."

"Perhaps," Elijah said, uncertain of how the vampire would react later on when the plan was in action.

Poppy rolled her eyes, not wanting to talk about Damon any more. "Elijah, we should go. Jenna will probably be pleased when she sees that you're back. And I need to text Caroline also – she's probably freaking out by now that I haven't spoken to her at all today," she said, now facing him. He nodded.

"You're right, it would probably be best that we leave," he said, turning to leave the study. "Until we meet again, Elena. Stefan.

With that, the two left and went on their way, back to the Gilbert house.

* * *

 _ **... Hey guys! I'm so sorry I disappeared again! It's so weird having to write now that I don't have any extra chapters written ahead – school has been the worst thing ever. However, I am now on break, so hopefully I can get back on track and continue with my weekly posts!**_

 _ **I know the whole rain bit isn't canon, but I just wanted to use the upholstery line to be honest.**_

 _ **Tell me what you thought of the chapter! Thank you guys so much for all of the reviews, follows, and favorites! It always brightens my day to see that people are actually reading and enjoying my work!**_

 _ **~Alissa**_


	17. Moving Forward

"Jenna! I'm home!" Poppy said as she and Elijah entered the Gilbert house. She slammed the door shut behind them to further announce their entrance. She heard her aunt's footsteps coming towards them, and decided to have a little fun before announcing the company. Quickly pushing Elijah back against the door and giving him a signal to be quiet before turning back to the direction of her aunt, she said mischievously, "Wait! Before you come in here, you have to guess who, or what, I have with me."

Her footsteps stopped and Poppy heard a huff from the other room. Elijah rolled his eyes, but she only smirked at him and winked flirtatiously. Well, of course she would never _admit_ it was flirtatious, but {of course} it was.

"Okay, fine," Jenna obliged. "Is it pizza?"

"Nope. I wish."

"Elena?"

"Ew, no," she said, scoffing. Elijah shook his head and gave her a look, but the smile that was appearing on his face was impossible to hide.

"Caroline?"

"Jeez, Jenna. You suck at guessing. Just see for yourself if you're going to struggle so much."

With that, the young woman entered the room and almost squealed in excitement when she saw the Original standing by Poppy's side, as if he'd never left. She quickly walked in front of him and rested her hand on his arm in a friendly manner, smiling all the while. "It's so nice to see you again!" Then, the mood changed quickly when she next asked, "So, are you really an Original vampire, or was Elena making all of that up?"

Poppy froze, looking like a dear in headlights, not knowing what her aunt could possibly think about her and Elijah spending time together... To be honest, she'd completely forgotten that it was probably not ideal for one's niece to constantly be hanging out with a vampire, especially after becoming that niece's guardian after her parents died. Uh oh.

"Yeah... um, about that," she said, not really knowing where she was going with this. Jenna raised her eyebrows, but then swatted away at Poppy's awkwardness.

"Listen, Elijah," Jenna said, walking up closer to him. Her eyes narrowed and she became very serious, but the man in question only stood there, taking whatever the young woman would give him. "You may have twenty times the amount of strength that I have, and you may have one thousand years over me, but if you hurt my nieces or nephew _ever_ , I will hunt you down and make sure that you regret it."

Elijah nodded solemnly and looked into Jenna's eyes as he replied, "I admire the work you put into making your sister's family happy, and I hope you know that I would never intentionally have any harm put upon Poppy, or the rest of your family. I hope you can have the same confidence in me as you had before, though I do know that it can be difficult to look past all that I am. However, I'm willing to do all that I can to prove to you that I'm worthy of your trust."

The young woman nodded, her features changing from their fiery boldness into something a bit more understanding, letting Poppy know that he had the all-clear. She cleared her throat, remembering what was happening. "Right, okay, we'll be upstairs."

"Leave the door open!" Jenna called after them, once again back to her 'cool-aunt' role. Poppy rolled her eyes.

"What do you think we're gonna do, Jenna? I'm a teenage girl who has a passion for Disney movies and Harry Potter."

With that, she dragged Elijah up the stairs and through the short hallway to her room, {leaving the door open, as Jenna wished} and it was much messier now than it ever was that he could remember. Clothes were thrown on the floor, the bed wasn't made, school work was scattered across the room, and Aurora was sat amidst the chaos, calmly looking around as if nothing could disturb her. That is, until Poppy noticed that the room looked as if a small tornado had come and gone, leaving everything in complete disarray.

The small blonde immediately began to tidy, throwing the piles of clothing into her closet, not bothering to hang them. "Sorry about the mess. I haven't been home much, since I was trying to avoid Elena and stuff..." she said, still scrambling to clean up. She nudged the cat off of the bed before resetting the duvet and placing the decorative throw pillows so that they looked just right.

While she was doing this, Elijah watched her, quite amused with how distressed she was about the mess that was found. He then shifted his attention to her bookshelf that was positioned right next to her window seat and looked at the many books that were held there. Ever the fan, he took out the Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe and flipped through, looking at her many notes throughout the book. In the table of contents, there was only one title that was highlighted and he flipped to the page that held _Annabel Lee._

It was then that Poppy had stopped with her cleaning, the room now looking at least somewhat presentable, and looked over to see what he was reading. She immediately smiled when she saw the title of the poem that she had loved ever since she was little; Poe was morbid, of course, but his writing had a grace and elegance that was unparalleled in her opinion. The flow of each phrase went together as smoothly as a well-made crème brûlée.

"It was many and many a year ago, in a kingdom by the sea, that a maiden there lived whom you may know by the name of Annabel Lee," she recalled from memory. Elijah looked at her and smiled softly.

"You have dark taste," he commented, closing the book and putting it back in its place.

"If you haven't noticed this by now, you haven't been paying very well attention, Elijah," Poppy said, smirking. "Besides, the dark stuff is where all of the emotion is. Fluff never helps with character development; _that_ can only come from great loss and sudden realization. Although Poe was a tad strange in the way that in almost all of his poems, it resulted in a beautiful woman dying..."

"Yes, he is known for that. I never got to meet him, unfortunately. At his prime, I was in New Orleans, which resulted in getting daggered by Niklaus, of course. However, that's a stage in my life that I like to look past... There aren't many pleasant memories to go along with it," he said, looking down. He'd never been one to dwell on the past. Focusing on the current goal always helped with distracting him from the constant pain that only grew throughout the thousand years that he had been living. Niklaus and the pain always seemed to go hand-in-hand, and he was ready to put an end to it.

Poppy looked at him with curious eyes. Something was eating at her, and it finally seemed to be the perfect opportunity to say it. "There are so many chapters of your life that I don't know about. It's weird, knowing that you have hundreds of years up your sleeves, while I don't even have two decades going on me."

Elijah sighed before replying, "I like to think of it as memories, rather than age. Someone could be five thousand years old, and still have the memories as simple and average as a thirty-year-old now."

The blonde walked over to her bed and sat down while Elijah followed after her, but stayed standing and put his hands in his pockets. "I guess that's true. But that definitely isn't our case. My life is as ordinary as they get. You know, disregarding the newly added supernatural life that's apparently been known in my not-so family since the beginning of Mystic Falls... But other than that? I'm pretty boring and young in memories," she said, running a hand through her light, curly hair.

Her whole life had been spent in the small town. She never met any new people, heard different viewpoints, or got to experience new places. A life spent untraveled was a naïve life to live. Ever since she found out that there was a supernatural world, she felt incredibly claustrophobic in the town that she used to be eager to call home. Now, she only felt uneducated and stuck with no path that told her where to go, or even how to go about doing it. All that she knew was that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell and that y equals mx plus b. How was she exceptional in any way, compared to someone who had traveled and seen the world and experienced it?

Elijah looked down at her and shook his head. He could see her viewpoint, and definitely understood it. However, within the first month of knowing him, she had done more for him than anyone had in his whole existence. And that counted for something. From where he stood, it counted for everything.

"Poppy, you're anything but ordinary," he said, looking down at her with an intensity that she had never been hit with before.

She froze and looked at him with wide eyes, not sure how she was going to respond. Everything seemed to take a more serious turn as the air stilled around them. The thoughts whizzing through her head suddenly vanished as her mind processed the sincerity of his words. She felt as if something was going to take place within the next few minutes, and emotions whirled inside of her like a hurricane.

Suddenly, she felt nervous at the idea of anything happening between the two of them. They'd been friends for a while now, and although she'd known that there was definitely something more to it than just friendship, the fact that it could happen at that very moment made her feel a huge surge of anxiety go through her. A part of her wanted to just run away from what was happening, while the other part wanted to stay and savor the moment forever.

Her fight or flight senses were tingling and she felt her heart pounding in her chest as she looked up at him. She tried to muster up any of the courage that she could possibly have in her, knowing that if there was going to be a perfect moment to act on her completely undeniable feelings, now was the time. Poppy knew that he was too respectful and righteous to be the first to make a move to go further in their relationship and she was ready to seize the opportunity that was clearly handed to her in his statement.

Finally, she stood up from her bed, leaving hardly any space between them. She felt his steady breath on her skin and looked into his dark brown eyes that showed her that this all was definitely not just a one-way street, ready for what she had felt was always bound to happen and-

 _ ***RING RING RING***_

Poppy nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard her phone ringing. In that moment, she wanted nothing more than to throw her phone on cement and stomp on it repeatedly. She groaned loudly – throwing back her head and all – and reached into her pocket and answered the call, ignoring Elijah's amused chuckle that was undoubtedly from her reaction.

"What the hell do you want?" she asked, not even bothering with looking to see who it was. Part of her was still not quite adjusted to life and was frozen back in time to where she was completely ready to kiss the man of her dreams. She decided that that was very justified, and continued to be annoyed with whatever idiot decided to call her at that moment in time.

"Nice to talk to you too," rang Caroline's voice on the other end, slightly surprised by her friend's outburst.

"Caroline, make it quick."

"Okay, snippy. I just wanted to check up on you. I heard that Elijah's back in the living," she said. Poppy rolled her eyes and looked over at Elijah, pointing at the phone and shaking her head in a dramatic way, as if saying, _"What're ya gonna do?"_ and then turned back to the conversation.

"Yeah, he is. On that note, I've gotta go, Caroline. Bye!" she said, getting ready to hang up.

"Oh! Okay, got it. Oh right! I also wanted to tell you that Matt and I are back together. But I've gotta go. Or _you_ gotta go. Wink wink. Nudge nudge. Okay, bye Pop-"

She ended the call before Caroline finished and made sure to turn off the ringer before throwing her phone onto the bed. Looking back up at him hesitantly, she sighed. "Well, count on Caroline to ruin a moment. The girl can't get the timing right to save her life, if I'm being completely honest. She never has, either. One time in second grade I was about to ask my crush out on a date and she walked right up to us and started babbling her little face off. She's always been the same, I swear."

"Poppy?"

"Yes?"

"Where were we?" he asked. Her eyes widened. Wow, way to be subtle about it, dude.

She smirked internally and said, "Well, I was talking about how old I was compared to you, then you said something about memories being the true measurement of age, then I said my life was boring, then you sa-"

Not waiting for her to finish, Elijah pressed his lips to hers. Poppy didn't respond at first, simply out of surprise from his uncharacteristic abruptness, but then decided to ignore anymore thoughts and wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled into the soft and sweet kiss.

It was very different from what she expected. Whenever she happened to think about it, she always pictured it being a bit stiff and awkward, but... Well, she could definitely tell that he had been on this planet for a thousand years. Not only that, but she'd been waiting for this for quite some time, and him taking initiative seemed to have made it even better. The anxiety that came along with being the one to make the first move was definitely getting to her, and having that weight off of her chest was relieving.

She felt her worries drifting away as she felt one of his hands move to the small of her back, the other brushing a loose strand of hair from her face, their lips moving together in a perfect harmony. The butterflies in her stomach were fluttering away and time froze in place. In her mind, it was only her and Elijah – everything else drifted away from her mind and she gladly accepted this occurrence, wanting to stay in this moment forever.

His gentle hesitation with every movement made it all more delicate and sweet – arguably, the perfect type of first kiss.

Unfortunately, this couldn'tlast forever as she wished, and their kiss ended – much too quickly in her opinion, and his for that matter. However, seeing as air was a necessity for one of the two, Elijah decided to be the one to end it for her benefit.

Poppy looked up at him tentatively, but then pushed her shyness away. This _was_ Elijah, after all. "Well, it took you long enough, dude," she said casually. She then smiled up at him and pulled him back to her, kissing him with a new-found confidence.

Instead of being gentle and unsure like the first one, this was all emotion. She wanted him to know how much she cared for him; how much it killed her when he was gone; how much she needed him to stay from that moment on.

He was slightly amused by her straight-forwardness and kissed her back, but made sure not to push anything further until she did herself. Being the noble man that he was, he didn't want to make her do anything she didn't want to do – even if it happened to be unintentional. Considering her _enthusiasm_ ,he found that she didn't mind this level of physical contact, but he always let her take control. He simply enjoyed being in her presence and eagerly allowed her lips to roam his; something he never expected would happen had he been told this a month or two ago.

Poppy was very interested in this side of Elijah. She'd never seen him like this, with his guard down and allowing his emotions to get ahold of him. He always had some type of impenetrable wall surrounding him, not letting anyone in. Except her. For some strange reason, he had taken it upon himself to let her into his world and she couldn't understand why for the life of her. His mind was so complex with his strict moral code playing over and over while going through every action, and his strange but justified ways.

While she did want to ponder the many things going on in his brain, at the moment all that she really wanted to do was feel his lips against hers, so she did.

He decided to let his personal rules be stretched a bit, and pushed her against the wall, never breaking contact. She opened her mouth, allowing him to have entrance and ran her fingers through his hair. Making it clear that she liked him to have control, she allowed him to roam her mouth, which left shivers down her spine while he had her pinned with one of his arms leaning on the wall that her back was pressed into. She was positive he could hear her heart pounding hard in her chest while he kissed her with a passion that she'd never been able to experience.

They stayed this way for a while, going back and forth and exploring this new step in their relationship, but she _did_ still want to spend some quality time with him, so she eventually gathered enough willpower to back away.

Her eyes roamed his face for a while, trying to figure out what he could possibly be thinking. All that she could find was contentment and affection. Slowly, her hand reached up and gently brushed against his jawline, but it dropped quickly. She knew that if she continued like this, it would only result in what they were just doing before she held it together long enough to break apart from him. The cycle could be endless, but she reminded herself that she just got her best friend back, and she needed to _talk_ with him, not just kiss him. Not that she wouldn't mind doing the latter.

"Well, I guess we have _that_ part in our relationship covered," she said, moving from where his body had slightly blocked her. She walked over to her bookshelf and grabbed her Centennial Edition of _Great Expectations_ ,then laid down on her bed.

Elijah stood and watched as she opened the book and began reading, completely perplexed as to how this teenage girl had so casually transitioned from one situation to the next. Considering his experiences with other girls her age – in any time period – not many were able to handle their emotions the way that she did. He found it rather refreshing to find someone with a strong amount of maturity, and definitely appreciated her easiness towards it all.

Finally, he walked to her bookshelf, grabbed her copy of _Anna Karenina,_ and sat beside her on the bed.

If Jenna had walked in then, she would have thought that it was just any normal day of casual reading. However, the two of them knew that something new had just begun.

* * *

"Herbert is easily the best character in all of literature, who do you think you're kidding?"

"Many audiences have stated that Mercutio is the most loved character of all time. Shakespeare had created an amazing person using words alone, and I believe that he is the best."

Poppy was extremely confused and conflicted. For some stupid reason, Elijah seemed to believe that Mercutio _,_ of all characters, was the best of all time. She, never having liked the story of _Romeo and Juliet_ , decided to be firmly against this outlook and stuck by her noble Herbert of _Great Expectations._ He was so upbeat and cute and perfect, that little Herbert. He held that quality that made you want to go into the story and pinch his cheeks, pat his head, then leave.

"No freaking way! I don't know how this whole thing," she said, gesturing madly towards the space between them, "will work if you think Herbert is anything but the best character that books have to offer. I mean, he's so faithful to Pip in the entire story, even if Pip turns out to be a total douchebag. Herbert is always by his side with a positive outlook. If he were real, I'd ditch you for him in an instant."

Elijah wasn't sure how to respond at her way of putting it, and almost chuckled. "Well, perhaps that's why I don't care for him," he said in an incredibly smooth way. Poppy raised her eyebrows at him and shifted her body position so that she could face him better.

"Wow, I see how it is," she said, very amused by this whole conversation. She then turned back to where she was in her comfortable position on her bed, leaned back into the pillows with her legs in a looser version of crisscross-applesauce. "But it's not like it would matter, anyway. He does have Clara, after all."

Elijah shook his head, smiling at how strange this girl was. "Well, this begs the question: how many other fictional characters would you easily choose over me?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes and hit his arm, but smiled over at him. "I wouldn't say a _huge_ amount, but I think that it would surprise you to know of the surplus of fictional characters that are stored up in my mind," she said, followed by a wink.

 _ ***BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ***_

" _Are you kidding me?_ I swear, I am going to destroy this phone and throw it into the Atlantic Ocean," Poppy said before answering the phone with a fake smile on her face. She found it helped her with getting into character. Elijah watched her, very amused, as she spoke into the phone. "Hello?" she said in a sickly sweet voice, knowing that it was Elena who called. Her tone was drenched in sarcasm and annoyance, but in the squeakiest way possible.

"Poppy? Can you and Elijah come over here? We need help with something," the older twin said. Upon hearing this, she rolled her eyes. What else would they be calling for, other than for their own personal gain?

"Yeah, sure. Whatever you want, my lady. Would your highness like us peasants to get you anything on the way, or do her two kings already have her covered?" she asked.

Elena huffed on the other line. "Poppy, please just get here. I'll see you soon."

"Sure thing, princess," she said sarcastically and hung up, throwing her phone to the foot of the bed, before she could hear another response. Poppy turned her head over to Elijah in an almost sad, regretful way. She didn't want to leave this moment, but of course her sister felt the need to only call when it would be convenient for her.

In that moment, Elijah very well understood just how irritating Elena Gilbert could be.

Poppy watched as he got up from his seat in the bed and then extended his arm to her, inviting her to take his hand. She placed her hand in his and he pulled her up quickly, completely disorienting her and making her laugh at the rush from moving quickly after being sat for a while.

As they were about to walk out, Poppy glanced in the mirror to see a horrifying image of what her hair had become after drying naturally without any product in it from their previous encounter with the rain. She froze and stared at herself for a minute, mouth slightly agape. She didn't understand how it was fair that Elena got perfect, straight hair while she got the frizzy, curly hair. Finally deciding to react to this situation, she looked over at Elijah, who was only watching her patiently.

"How could you even _look_ at me with my hair being this insane. This is what rain does to me, and it isn't fair," she said, getting to work with a brush so that she could make a French braid. "I actually look insane. I look like a troll under a bridge or something. How did it even get this bad?"

Elijah only watched her in amusement as she struggled to reach over her head and tighten her hair enough for the braid to hold. He eventually realized that they wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon if she didn't get this done, so he decided to help her.

"Sit down, Poppy."

"What? What are you doing?" she asked, frowning as he sat behind her. He looked her dead in the eyes as if it were obvious. She raised her eyebrows to show that she wasn't catching the hint.

"I've lived for one thousand years. Surely you can believe that I have developed the ability to braid hair in all that time," he replied. Her mouth made the shape of an 'o' and then she readily sat in front of him.

To say that she was ready for him to run his fingers through her hair would be an understatement, considering that it was generally a nice thing in the first place. Having it done by someone like Elijah only seemed to elevate the enjoyment of the feeling even more. She felt as he gently untangled her hair with his fingers and nearly fell asleep sat at his feet. In her dazed state, she didn't notice when he was finished and was only aware when he helped her only her feet.

She walked over to the mirror, still trying to shake off her sudden drowsiness, and was pleasantly surprised to see that her hair was secured back quite well.

"I don't know why I'm so surprised. I know you've lived in a time where you had long hair yourself. There's no reason why you wouldn't be able to make a good braid, but I'm still impressed," she said, still looking at herself. Her eyes travelled away from the mirror, to Elijah who watched her from across the room with a strong intensity in his gaze. She turned and raised an eyebrow at him questioningly. "What ar-"

Before she could finish, his lips were once again on hers, and he removed all chances of getting to the Salvatore Boarding Houses on time. Not that she was complaining in anyway whatsoever.

* * *

 _ **Hey guys... I know it's been like a year and a half since I last updated – oh well. BUT it's summer now, and I'm already bored out of my mind, so expect for there to be many more chapters in the near future. I've definitely missed this story, and I'm excited to get back into it.**_

 _ **Many new things have happened in this chapter, which I'm sure you're all pleased about! They're officially a bit more than friends now! A small reason that this took me so long to post was also just me trying to make sure that everything worked out perfectly so that all of the scenes fit your expectations. But mostly I was lazy, and then I was too afraid to post after such a long hiatus...**_

 _ **You should be looking out for a new chapter in a week probably, so please leave a review in the meantime! Even if it is to yell at me because of my inability to complete anything in life...**_

 _ **~Alissa**_


	18. Beginning of the End

Poppy and Elijah finally held enough self-restraint to get in the car and drive to the Salvatore's house. It took a while, since they were taking full advantage of the next level in their relationship, but they managed to break apart and get back to the matter at hand. Of course the so-called "matter at hand" was to cater to Elena's every need, but no one ever said that life would be fair.

"Thank god, you're finally here," Elena said as she answered the door and led them inside. "What took you so long?"

Taking this as an opportunity to frustrate her sister, Poppy replied, "Oh, you know. Just making out with a hot – and incredibly moral – Original vampire." Elijah gave her a look, but she shrugged while Elena stopped walking completely.

"Okay, that's way too much information," she said, slightly flustered. The schemy brunette then continued walking, shaking her head to clear out any images that were trying to come through. "Well, anyway... I called you guys down here so that we could discuss the curse and any way that we could try to stop it from killing me."

"Just your regular afternoon chat," Poppy said, rolling her eyes as they entered the living room.

Stefan was already there, fixing a drink for himself and getting ready for the no-doubt challenging conversation that would soon take place. The perky blonde smiled over at him and went to give him a hug.

"Hey, Stefan! How is it that three hours feels so long?" she asked, looking up at him. He smiled and shook his head; a classic Stefan move.

"Right, well I suppose it's time to get down to business," Elijah said, moving to the couch and having a seat. Poppy left the younger Salvatore to follow his lead. "Tonight is the full moon. We should assume that Klaus is prepared to break the curse."

Upon hearing how soon everything was happening, the true danger of Niklaus seemed to hit hard on everyone. While he had acted as a hero for Poppy when she needed it most, he was far from a knight in shining armor. In fact, he was possibly as far from it as a man could get. It was hard for her to imagine him as anything other than the man who prevented an idiotic boy from raping her, but this was starting to change her mind.

"Elena said that the Sun and the Moon Curse is fake?" Stefan began curiously, having not been told the whole story. "That it's actually just a curse placed on Klaus."

"Well, my sister was actually right for once," Poppy said, smirking and ignoring the pointed glares that came her way.

"Klaus is a vampire born of a werewolf bloodline." Elijah was clearly trying to mediate and move the subject to a more neutral zone. The young blonde sitting next to him rolled her eyes at his natural ability to facilitate. "The curse has kept his werewolf aspect from manifesting. But if he breaks it... he'll be a true hybrid."

"Then why are we letting him break the curse?" Damon asked, entering the room. Poppy groaned and rolled her eyes, so dramatically that she rested her head on Elijah's shoulder, not wanting to look at the asshole in front of her. "We can kill him today. With Bonnie."

"Damon..." Stefan said, trying to stop his brother from saying anything more. Poppy sighed, knowing that Damon would ruin the plan one way or another.

"No," Elena piped in. "Bonnie can't use that much power without dying."

"I'll write her a great eulogy."

"No one cares about your opinion, Damon," Poppy decided to add. "And Bonnie's ghost would haunt all of us if we let you – of _all people_ – write her eulogy. Believe me."

"Shut it y-"

"It's not an option, Damon," Elena cut in before too much damage was done.

Poppy maintained eye contact with him for a while, daring him to say any more. When he hadn't done anything, she raised an eyebrow at him until he looked away. Smiling to herself, she cheered internally. Oh, sweet success.

"All right," Stefan said, breathing in deeply. "How do we break this curse?"

This time, it was Elijah's turn to speak. "Well, the ritual itself is relatively straightforward. The ingredients, so to speak, you already know."

"The moonstone."

Elijah nodded. "A witch will channel the power of the full moon to release the spell that's bound within the stone. After that, Klaus, being both werewolf and vampire, will sacrifice one of each."

Elena frowned while listening. "And where do I fit into it?" she asked.

"The final part of the ritual," Elijah said, getting up from his spot on the couch and moving to grab a wooden box. "Klaus must drink the blood of a doppelgänger, to the point of your death."

Elena frowned at the reminder, looking up at him, but Poppy only rolled her eyes. Of course he had to be all dramatic and wait to bring up the fact that there was a way to stop it from ending that way.

"And that's where you come in," the young brunette said.

Elijah opened the box that was still in his hands and pulled out what was sure to be the solution to the whole ordeal. "This is an elixir that I acquired some 500 years ago for Katerina. It possesses mystical properties of resuscitation."

"Wait," Poppy said, bringing the attention to her and sounding like she had something important to add. "... say elixir again."

Elijah smiled. "Elixir." The lilt in his voice made her grin.

"Wonderful."

"Can you guys stop flirting?" Elena said, rolling her eyes. Poppy huffed and exchanged an unimpressed look with the Original. "Anyway – so I'll be dead?"

"And then you won't."

"That's your plan? A magical witch potion with no expiration date?" Damon asked, making his way closer to the action. He turned to Elena. "You want to come back to life, what about John's ring?"

Elijah was quick to cut in. "Those rings only work on humans. The doppelgänger's a supernatural occurrence. Odds are, the ring won't work."

Damon once more cut in {like a child}. "I'll take those odds over your elixir. What if it doesn't work, Elena?"

"Then I guess I'll just be dead," she said matter-of-factly. Poppy raised her eyebrows at her sister's acceptance towards the cause.

The older Salvatore, on the other hand, wasn't quite so pleased. He looked back and forth between everyone in the room, probably not sure about who he should complain to next. Nearly everyone was relieved when he decided to give up, and stomped out of the study to sulk away in his own bedroom.

"Well, at least we made him mad enough to chase him off," Poppy said, smirking when she heard glass shattering on the floor above them. Stefan couldn't help but laugh at Damon's dramatics.

"Do we know if Klaus has everything he needs to do this?" Elena asked. "Does he have a werewolf?"

"Klaus has been waiting to break this curse for over a thousand years. If he doesn't already have a werewolf, my guess is by tonight, he will," Elijah said, sighing and looking down at the floor. His brother had caused so much panic and disarray in such a short matter of time, and it was almost an embarrassment to have been the big brother of one that was bringing such chaos.

"I guess I should go check on Damon," Stefan said, raising his eyebrows and showing how he truly wished he wasn't the one that was stuck with the task.

He got up, leaving only Elena, Elijah, and Poppy in the room.

"You'd think he'd understand why I'm willing to do this," Elena said. She moved over to where Elijah was with the elixir, and she lifted the bottle out of the box.

"Actually, I'm surprised he hasn't started kicking and screaming in a tantrum yet," Poppy said, amused by the image that was now playing in her head.

Elijah gave her a look, but then turned back to the doppelgänger. "Why are you?"

"I'm the key to breaking the curse," Elena said. "Klaus is here because of me. If I don't stop him, then he's going to hurt people. It's that simple."

"You know, there's a possibility this elixir won't work. I don't want to mislead you."

"I know the chance I'm taking."

Poppy wanted to roll her eyes at the natural martyr that her sister made, but held it in when she heard a ruckus coming from outside. "What the hell is going on out there?" she asked, leading the way to find her aunt pointing a freaking _crossbow_ at Alaric. Where did she even get one of those things?

"Get out!" Jenna yelled.

"Jenna! Jenna!"

"Get out!"

"Jenna, put the crossbow down, okay? It's me." Alaric's soothing tone must have not been doing it for her, because if anything she only tightened her grip and got into a better stance.

"Stay away from me."

"What the hell is going on?" Poppy asked. Elijah, upon seeing the danger of a nearly mad woman – with probably not the best aim in the world, to be honest – with a crossbow, moved his way in front of the blonde. She rolled her eyes, but understood his precaution, as she was standing near where her aunt was aiming.

"What's happening?" Elena piped in, only adding an extra voice to the situation.

"It's me, Poppy. Elena. I swear, okay? He let me go. Klaus let me go."

"Prove it," Damon said, now also in the room with Stefan.

Alaric turned to Jenna. "Okay, uh, first night you and I spent together, Jeremy walked in right when I was about to-"

"Okay, it's him," Jenna cut off before he could say anything else, and lowered the crossbow. Poppy took a moment to praise whatever it was out there for letting her aunt stop him before he could say anything else. She didn't need another image to scar her for the rest of her life, thank you very much.

"Why did he let you go?" Stefan asked, while Elijah loosened his stance and stood beside Poppy rather than in front of her.

"He wanted me to deliver a message," Alaric said. "The sacrifice happens tonight."

* * *

After Alaric's little message, they all {sans the worst Salvatore} moved back to the living room.

"So you don't remember anything that happened?" Stefan asked Alaric.

"No. It's like I blacked out and woke up three days later. Katherine was there."

"She's under compulsion. Damon snuck her some vervain, but she can't leave until Klaus tells her she can," Stefan explained.

"Where is Damon?" Elena asked.

"Probably drowning in his own ego."

"I saw him go upstairs," Jenna cut in, giving Poppy an annoyed look. Elena left the room, off to see to the asshole who was probably wallowing in self-pity.

"So what else did I miss?" Alaric asked.

"Well, ya know. A little bit of murder. A little bit of blackmail. A little bit of romantic drama, here and there," Poppy said, shrugging. "The usual."

"Anything in particular?" he said, chuckling at the young blonde's phrasing.

"The decade dance had its ups and downs," Stefan said, looking down at his hands. Poppy stiffened at the mention of it. It was still only a day ago that everything had happened, and it brought shivers down her spine. The mere thought of it made her want to curl into herself and be alone. Not to mention that she hadn't said a word of it to Jenna, or any other adult {outside of the whole vampire gang}.

Thankfully, before any more questions could be asked, Stefan abruptly got up and zoomed out of the room, looking very angry. At his brother, no doubt.

The rest of them sat there for a moment, not knowing what to do, but then followed up to Damon's room where they found Stefan with a broken lamp impaling him. Elena was kneeling down, trying to help him, while Damon looked down at the scene that he surely caused.

"What the hell is going on?" Alaric asked.

"Get him out of here!" Elena yelled, turning to glare at Damon. Blood covered her face and Poppy watched, wide-eyed and trying to understand what had just happened. Did... Damon actually feed her his blood?

The history teacher decided to oblige, and tried to pull the vampire up and make him leave the room, but Damon shoved him away and stormed off.

Stefan, still unable to move, was gasping for breath. Poppy frowned, not knowing what she could do to help him, and felt like she was only taking up space.

"Okay, Jenna," Alaric said, trying to bring some type of order to the situation. "Downstairs in the basement are some blood bags. Go get them, now. Go!"

Her aunt ran from the scene, looking flustered, but still feeling the need to help. Elena finally pulled the lamp out of Stefan, and he laid down with his head in her lap.

"I'm sorry," he said, barely able to get the words out.

"Shh... It's okay," the brunette said. Poppy felt her heart clench, but knew that there was nothing she could do at this point. He would be better soon.

She knelt down by Stefan's side and grabbed onto his hand. He looked over at her and she gave him a weak smile. "Hey," she said softly. "We can't all choose our siblings."

The statement made Stefan laugh a little deliriously, then Poppy joined in. She looked up at Elena, who was also smiling. Of course the blonde was _deeply_ angry with her sister, but she still felt that tug from a bond that only the two of them would know. All that she wanted was all of this to be over, but something told her that that wouldn't be happening any time soon.

"Poppy," Elijah said from the door. She looked up at him. "I'm leaving, if you want to come with."

She nodded. "Alright," she said. Then she smiled down at Stefan. "The only alternative would be as fifth wheel, and I would really rather not."

Elena was sad to see her sister go, but nodded. "Bye, Poppy," she said. For all she knew, this could be the last time she saw her, as a human. The thought made her look down sadly. She didn't really want to be a vampire. She wanted a family. A nice, happy family with a stupid white picket fence. It seemed that life wouldn't be so kind to her.

Poppy looked at her sister, her mind going in the same direction. The next time she saw Elena, she would probably be blood-thirsty and half-dead... All because of Damon. Well, also Niklaus, but the guy just wanted to be a hybrid. And they'd figured out a way that would have stopped Elena from dying, if only Damon hadn't ruined it.

Sighing, she turned to her sister. "Listen, I'm going to hug you right now, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to forgive you," she said. The smile that she got in return made her roll her eyes and fail to hold back a grin in return.

A little awkwardly, since Stefan was still in pain right by Elena, the two hugged, and Poppy squeezed her probably a little tighter than necessary.

"Elena, no matter what happens tonight, I love you, okay?" she said, pulling back and looking her sister in the eyes. "I know that you want that dumb white picket fence life, but you can find happiness. This is something you can get through... and I'll help you do that, as long as you don't plan on daggering any more of my friends."

The brunette's smile was bright enough to light up the sky, and she nodded. Her sister's forgiveness would be enough to help her get through this. Well, that along with ripping Damon's head off for what he did.

"Bye, 'Lena," Poppy said, finally getting up and joining Elijah.

* * *

"Okay, okay, I got it. Stay home. Don't leave. Make sure Jenna stays. Don't do anything stupid."

Elijah had been hounding her on not leaving the house that night. And of course while Poppy knew the dangers of the Big Bad Hybrid, she couldn't help but be annoyed by his new protective side. It wasn't like she was going to leave the house in the first place, but his constant pushing almost made her want to leave to spite him.

Of course, he knew this, so he decided to hold back. "Alright. Jenna should be here shortly, and Klaus will begin the ritual at nightfall. I'll need to be there to ensure that everything goes as planned, and until then I have a few last minute errands to run."

Poppy nodded, then frowned, looking at the floor. "Elijah..." she said, then shook her head and looked back up at him. "Just be careful. I know that you're, like, invincible or whatever, but I really don't want you to die. And Niklaus is unpredictable. One second, he was saving me from an absolute horror and the next he was nearly killing my aunt. When it comes to him, it's better to be safe than sorry."

He nodded and walked closer to her, pushing a stray hair behind her ear. "I know the danger that my brother brings. Living with him for one thousand years has been difficult, but it has also helped me understand his strategy. He will find something that I cannot live without and use it as a bargaining chip, and I do not want what he uses to be you."

Life as a bargaining chip didn't seem like a very good one, but hearing that he cared for her enough for her to be put in that position made her heart skip a beat. Maybe it was the nice, comfortable moment between the two of them, or maybe it was the inevitable meeting with Niklaus that was sure to end messy, but Poppy suddenly felt like she just didn't want to let him go. She wanted to stay in this spot forever, taking him in and enjoying their time together.

"Listen, I don't know exactly what we are, but..." She knew that she had his complete attention, and lifted her hand to rest on his cheek. "I _really_ care about you, and if your psycho hybrid brother finds a way out of our plan, just know that I'll be here to help you with finding your family. I know how much they mean to you, and if I need to give Niklaus a scolding myself, then I will."

Elijah smiled softly at the amusing image. "My brother isn't your concern. I will find out where my siblings are, then he will no longer be a part of the equation. I don't want you to worry over Niklaus, or me, for that matter. As long as you stay here, it should all go as planned."

She grinned up at him cheekily, then quickly wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. "Be careful. Good luck. I'll call you if anything happens," she said, pushing him out the door. While she wished he could stay longer, she knew that he needed to get going.

"I will call once it is over," he said, then walked out to his car.

Poppy sighed, watching him drive away. At least she didn't have to do anything that night, while _they_ did all of the hard work. While she tried to occupy her mind with the positives of the evening, she decided to make popcorn.

It was still popping when Jenna arrived.

"Hey, kiddo," she said, throwing her purse down on the couch. Poppy looked at her aunt from the kitchen.

"I'm only, like, six years younger than you," she said, shaking her head and smiling.

"Whatever."

"I thought we could have popcorn and movies tonight," she said, now gaining the attention of her aunt. "You know, since everyone else is out risking their lives and all that. We can just stay in, like the boring humans we're meant to be."

Jenna nodded. "That sounds great. I could use a break after all that's happened," she said, walking over to the kitchen and taking out bowls for the popcorn.

"Yeah, it can all be... a lot to take in," Poppy said. Especially when you were forced into it by being kidnapped for an Original vampire, and then being used as leverage. She didn't say that bit, knowing that her aunt would ask questions about her and Elijah that she honestly didn't want to answer at the moment.

"How are you handling things, anyway?" she asked, sticking with something that she knew her aunt wanted to rant about.

"Oh, you know. I found out that the town I live in is actually full of vampires – and all of them seem to want to be involved in my nieces' lives for whatever reason. Also, weren't you kidnapped or something? God, this whole story is insane."

So much for moving past the whole 'kidnapping' situation.

Poppy nodded. "Yep, I was kidnapped," she said. To calm her aunt's shocked face, she added, "But it brought me and Elijah together, so it's not like it scarred me or anything. In fact, I think I'm better off now. Since then, Elena's told me all about what's been going on, and now _you_ know also. So maybe it was meant to happen, so that everything else could happen."

Jenna frowned at the bowls that were now full of popcorn and picked one up, walking to the couch in the living room. "I still feel like I messed up. You know, as your guardian I'm supposed to make sure that nothing bad happens to you. And all this stuff that you're involved in now – it's all happened since I've been here and I feel like I should have been able to stop it."

"No, I don't think so." The young blonde said this firmly, so that her aunt wouldn't interrupt her before she could finish her point. "Elena's always been a doppelgänger. I've always been... whatever I am. Our family has always been involved. I honestly don't think that there's anything you could've done to stop it."

Jenna was about to answer her when her phone went off. She frowned, but answered it. "Elena?"

Poppy listened in to the other line.

" _Jenna, hey. I need you to come down to the Boarding House."_

"Why?" Jenna asked, having been there just a half hour ago. "We were just about to watch a movie, and I don't want to leave if it isn't something important."

" _Are you with Poppy? Can she come too?"_

"I'm here, 'Lena. Why do you need us to go down there?" Poppy asked into the phone. The call seemed a little fishy, and Elijah had told her to stay inside that night... but then again, her sister was going to become a vampire in less than five hours.

" _Just come, Poppy. I'll tell you when you get here."_

With that, the line ended and Jenna turned her screen off.

"I guess we have to go back to the Boarding House," she said, sighing and grabbing her bag again.

Poppy shook her head, clearing any suspicious thoughts. It was Elena's voice, after all. It wasn't like her own sister was luring them out to pounce on them the second they leave. So, she grabbed her phone and made her way to the door.

"Yeah, I guess," the girl said, opening the door and stepping out to the car. "It's just weird that Elena would call us out _right_ after we got-"

Before she could finish her sentence, something hard hit the back of her head, and just like it had only a month ago, the world went black.

* * *

Poppy opened her eyes blearily, looking around and trying to remember what had happened.

Her surroundings were unfamiliar, that was certain. She seemed to be in a clearing in a forest somewhere, with torches all around to light up the area. Generally, that didn't seem to be a very safe type of setting. Wherever she was, it wasn't going to be good.

Finally, her mind started to follow what was happening. Niklaus. The ritual. Elena. Jenna. _Oh shit._

She sat up, trying to get a hold of her environment before she made any moves. A circle was drawn in the ground around her with flames coming out of it, stopping her from going anywhere. Well, it seemed like she wasn't going to need to be more aware of her surroundings after all.

"Jenna?" she called, standing to get a better view. Her aunt had to be somewhere around here, because they wouldn't just leave her, while they took Poppy.

"Poppy," Jenna answered. She was across the clearing by a few yards in her own circle, right next to another with Elena in it. Their circles were so close, they were connected, while Poppy's was a clear distance away.

"Son of a bitch," she said to herself, shaking her head. "What the hell is going on? Why are you here?"

"Poppy, Jenna's a vampire. Klaus is gonna use her to break the curse," Elena said. Poppy held her head, feeling a migraine come on. This was definitely _not_ how she'd planned to spend her evening.

"Oh my god. I can't believe this is happening," she said, looking down.

Her aunt was going to be used in a sacrificial ritual that was meant to turn Niklaus from vampire, to full hybrid. But she thought... she wasn't sure what she thought, honestly. Maybe that Niklaus would care even the slightest for her well-being. Why? Because she was the girl that captured Elijah's attention, so in turn, he wanted to ensure her safety? It wasn't like their family ties were the best in the first place. Of course he wouldn't actually care about her, or her aunt for that matter...

"Jenna, how are you feeling?" Elena asked, pacing in her circle.

"I feel like myself... Only not," she said. She was sitting down, and not looking too good. "E-everything is brighter. The fire's hotter. Part of me is terrified, but there's another part of me that doesn't want to feel anything."

At hearing this, Poppy bit into her fist to stop from crying. Jenna didn't deserve this. None of them deserved this. They just wanted to move on from their parents' deaths and find a way to be happy again; not get caught up in some supernatural drama that only resulted in more death.

"Vampires can turn off the part that's human," Elena said, stopping and looking at her aunt. "That's the part that hurts."

"I'm gonna die, aren't I?" Jenna asked, her eyes glistening with tears. Poppy dropped her hand and shook her head, pulling at the roots of her hair. This was too much.

"No! Jenna, I'm not going to let that happen. I don't care what I have to do," Elena said firmly.

Right after she said this, they heard screaming coming into the clearing.

"Who's that?" Jenna asked.

"It must be the werewolf..." Elena said, watching as the girl who must be the witch dragged in a blonde woman, pushing her into a circle by Elena's and Jenna's.

"What's happening to me?" the woman asked, gasping for breath and doubling over.

"I cast a spell to slow down your transformation," the witch replied. "Your insides are trying to tear themselves free."

Poppy was frozen, watching with wide eyes as everything happened. She couldn't move from her spot, far enough away to clearly be separated from the ritual. Of course, that meant that she was only going to be used as bait, just like Elijah had predicted... great.

"Greta, witches are supposed to maintain the balance in nature," Elena said to the witch. Poppy froze. Was that... Luca's sister? "It's your duty to them to keep this curse sealed."

"My duty is to Klaus!" she said in return. Poppy raised her eyebrows. Okay, this girl was dumb if she really thought that _he_ was the good guy here. "The new order."

"Glad to know I still have a dance partner," Niklaus said, walking up to join the party. This was the first time she'd seen him in his actual body, and it was nice to put a face to a name. Poppy's hands fisted up, getting ready to tell him what _exactly_ was on her mind at the moment. "Hello, my lovelies. Are we ready?"

The small blonde glared at him, shaking her head in disbelief. This stupid, selfish old man was the reason that they were going through all of this trouble, and now she wasn't sure if her aunt would even survive the night.

"Niklaus," she said, her tone not being one to mess with. He turned to her, eyebrows raised.

"Ah, yes. The target of my brother's affections. The damsel in distress. It is good to see you again," he said tauntingly.

She walked as close to him as the circle of flames would allow. "I swear to god, if you touch any of us-"

"I'm going to stop you there," he cut in, smirking. "You see, you may have been able to push Elijah around, but I am not quite so easily swayed by big green eyes. Although, it does amuse me endlessly to see what you've made of my brother. He has grown... soft, almost."

She glared at him so hard that she could swear she felt lasers coming out of her eyes. "Niklaus, once I get out of this goddamn circle, I am going to beat the living shit out of you. And then you will probably, like, hold me down and stop me from hurting myself, but you know what? I'm going to try."

He smiled cheekily at her. "Oh, Poppy. It will be lovely to have another girl in the family."

Her eyes went wide and her cheeks burned, partly from embarrassment, and partly from anger. "Niklaus-"

"Please," he said, never running out of amusement. "Call me Nik."

* * *

 _ **Here's another chapter! I can't believe that I actually stuck to this, this time around. It's about to get so good and I'm really looking forward to more interactions with Klaus and Poppy. They're so much fun to write.**_

 _ **The rest of the sacrifice will be up next, and then everything's going to go wild from there. I seriously can't wait to see where this story goes, especially after taking such a long break. I feel like my writing has improved so much, and I've gone over all of my earlier chapters and corrected anything that I didn't like. Not much changed, but it's all smoothed over if you want to reread.**_

 _ **Please write a review! You can tell me what you want to see more of, or less of. I do have a plot that I'm going to be sticking to, but any ideas are open! Thank you so much for your patience with this story {I know I suck} but I really think that it's going to move on to something big.**_

 _ **~Alissa**_


	19. Living and Losing

Poppy sat in her circle, defiantly watching as Greta performed the spell, chanting in latin. She knew that there was nothing that she could do to help Elena... to save Jenna. And while she couldn't do anything, that didn't mean that she would just sit idly by, completely indifferent to what was happening.

The werewolf was still in pain from the slowed-down transformation, and Poppy almost felt it second-hand just by looking at her. Werewolves didn't have it easy, that was for sure. Changing their entire bodies once a month and losing any sense of control didn't seem like a good time, at all.

"Everything I did..." the werewolf said, groaning from her slow turn under the full moon. Her face was contorted in agony, and Poppy didn't like seeing it, one bit. "I was just trying to help Tyler."

Poppy closed her eyes, not having it in her to feel bad for another person in this mess. Doing so helped her cope hardly at all, but at least she didn't have to witness her pain.

"Are you Jules?" Elena asked.

"I didn't want him to be alone," she said, referring to Tyler. Then she returned to her groaning as her bones morphed inside of her. Poppy wasn't sure what her connection with the boy was exactly, but she knew that she was the reason that he'd been gone for the last few weeks. From what she heard then, all that she'd wanted was good for him – and look at what she got in return.

"Shall we?" Niklaus asked, looking excitedto begin his ritual. It was all she could do to stop herself from making a run for it, if only to be able to slap that smug look off of his face. The guy saved her, but that didn't mean that he hadn't lost all sense of compassion in his thousand years of living, and seeing it first-person made her angrier than she cared to admit.

The circle of fire around Jules then disappeared, and Poppy knew what that had to mean. It was time for the sacrificial part of the evening.

She wasn't ready to see Jules die. In fact, she would be happy if she never had to see anyone die ever again. Of course, life wasn't fair.

The young woman ran as soon as the fire was defused, trying for one last feeble attempt to escape from death. She got about halfway through the clearing before Klaus was there to tackle her down to the ground and surely take her life. He fought with her lazily and sat on top of her squirming body. Poppy couldn't believe how easy all of this was for him. It was all just another day, just another woman to kill.

She couldn't tear her eyes away, feeling like Jules deserved better than to be ignored in her final moments. Her eyes were locked on the scene when Klaus finally reached into her chest, pulling out her heart and killing her. That easy. The victorious look on his face only freaked the rest of them out further.

He got up and took the heart over to the tree stump where the actual spell was being performed. Poppy was closer to it than Jenna and Elena, and she watched as the blood dripped into the fire. Not being able to look anymore, she turned back to her sister and aunt.

"The day that the lawyers called to tell me that I was going to become your guardian, you know what my first thought was?" Jenna asked. Poppy shook her head, not wanting to hear this. She felt tears sliding down her cheeks, and wiped them away. "Isn't there someone else who can do this?"

Poppy chuckled hysterically, the whole situation becoming too much for her.

"Jenna, there's no one else who could have gotten me, Poppy, and Jeremy through all of that," Elena said. How she was able to keep herself put together enough to form coherent sentences amazed Poppy.

"Just the thought that I almost passed up taking care of you," she said.

"But you didn't. You put your entire life on hold to help us."

"Look around, Elena," Jenna said. "I failed you."

"Jenna," Poppy said, cutting in, now able to sort out her thoughts, if only to tell her aunt how much she meant to her. "No. You have been everything that we've needed. We got through this because of you. We needed you there for us, and you did everything you could to make us happy."

Elena nodded. "Being a vampire, it intensifies your guilt, but it also makes you stronger and faster." She lowered her voice so that Niklaus couldn't hear. "You can fight back. I'm gonna get through this. I'll be okay. I need you to believe that. Promise me. When you get the chance, run."

Jenna nodded and her eyes flickered back and forth between the twins. "You girls and Jeremy... It's been so great taking care of all of you. Just know that... I'll protect you, until the very end."

Poppy bit her lip and nodded, feeling more tears coming. She would do anything to keep her aunt safe, but she knew that Niklaus wouldn't accept any of her feeble attempts to change his mind. He would soon have all of the power that he desired, and her friend would soon be dead.

Niklaus made his way over to the girls and walked up to Jenna's circle. "Hello, Jenna."

"Let her go. I understand that I have to die, but she doesn't," Elena said. Then she tried to walk over to Jenna, but the flames grew higher.

"Careful," Niklaus said, shaking his head.

"Elena, don't," Jenna said.

"No, Jenna! We can't leave Jeremy without a family," Elena said. She turned to Klaus. "I followed your rules, I did everything that you asked. I didn't run. Please."

Poppy shut her eyes tightly, just wanting to escape this horrible reality. She couldn't believe that this had all gone so terribly. They had a _plan._ It was supposed to work out. Jenna wasn't supposed to get involved. They were supposed to be at home, eating popcorn and watching movies. She couldn't believe she was so stupid to leave the house, even after all that Elijah said.

"Well, well," Niklaus said. Then he looked up at a cliff that Poppy hadn't realized was there until that moment. "I don't recall you being on the guest list."

And up there on the cliff, of course, was the one and only Stefan Salvatore.

"I'm here to talk."

"Dear god," Poppy said, rolling her eyes at the stupid man. Niklaus gave her an amused look.

"Very well, then," he said. He ran up to Stefan and their words were now out of hearing range.

"What's going on?" Jenna asked, looking up at them.

"I-I don't know," Elena said, looking absolutely terrified. Then she turned to Jenna, suddenly remembering something. "You can hear them. You can hear anything. Just focus on them."

Poppy nodded, remembering the whole vampire-hearing thing. She turned to her aunt, wondering what was going on. Stefan was probably doing something stupid and heroic.

"What are they saying?" Elena asked impatiently.

"I can't- I can't make it out," Jenna said, shaking her head. The whole vampire-thing was new to her, and she wasn't sure how to use any of the powers that she was granted.

"You can do this. Just relax. Focus."

Jenna nodded and looked at the men determinedly. Then, it was like a switch flicked on and her eyes widened. "I... I can hear him. I can hear Stefan," she said.

"What are they saying?"

"Oh my god..." Jenna said, her eyebrows lifting in shock.

"What, Jenna?" Poppy asked, finally speaking up.

Jenna sighed and looked down at the ground. "He wants to take my place."

Elena's face couldn't show _half_ of the pain she was feeling. Stefan, the boy who taught her what true love meant, was offering to take the place of her aunt in a sacrifice. What was she supposed to do? These were two of the people she cared most about, and she couldn't let either of them die.

"'Lena," Poppy said, trying to get her sister to look at her. Maybe knock some type of sense into her.

"I have to do something," she said, pacing again. "This can't happen. None of it."

"Quite the predicament," Niklaus said, strolling back up to them with Stefan trailing behind. "You know, it's funny, all this talk about preserving family, and here's Stefan, granting your wish."

Elena sighed when she looked at the boy she loved. "Stefan."

"It's okay."

Poppy held back tears again. "Oh, Stef... Always the knight in shining armor," she said, sniffing.

"So..." Niklaus said. "Who's it going to be, Elena?"

"No," she said defiantly. Poppy held her breath, knowing that her sister's non-cooperation wouldn't do anything to help the situation.

"Oh, don't worry. There's actually no choice," he said, and then staked Stefan in the back.

"No! Stefan!" Elena yelled, her voice breaking. She ran to the edge of her circle, but was unable to get out. "No!"

"I have other plans for your boyfriend. I want him alive," Niklaus said. Poppy's eyes widened when she noticed he'd clearly avoided his heart... and that could only mean... "But for now-"

Then he kicked Stefan's already-unmoving body, breaking {what sounded like} several bones. Stefan's body laid there, limp and motionless. His limbs certainly didn't look like they were going to be setting right. But at least he was alive.

Her relief didn't last long, though.

"Whenever you're ready, Greta," he said.

The flames that surrounded Jenna died down to nothing until she was left standing, like a sitting duck. Completely defenseless. Unable to do anything to stop this; to stop _him._

"No!" Poppy yelled, getting as close to her aunt as she could. "Niklaus, don't you dare! Please don't hurt her!"

"Poppy, dear," he said, turning and looking annoyed. "I told you to call me Nik."

She looked at him with wide eyes, her mouth agape, shaking her head at this lunacy. He was utterly insane. She couldn't believe how far he was willing to go, only for a chance to no longer be alone. For a while, she could sympathize with him, but... Seeing it all for herself made her positive about one thing: Niklaus wanted what he wanted, and no one would stop him from getting exactly that.

"No..." Elena said, barely keeping herself together.

Niklaus turned back to Jenna casually. "Your turn."

"Nik, please..." Poppy said in almost a whisper, her only hope being in a stupid nickname. He locked eyes with her for a moment, and she could swear that she saw a bit of sympathy in them. Sadness that he was making her feel this way. It didn't last long though, and his face turned back into its stony indifference.

"No, Jenna, no!"

"It's alright, girls," Jenna said, surprisingly calm. Throughout the last year, she'd been able to keep a steady head, just as she was doing now. Poppy didn't understand it. The young woman was able to stay strong, when none of them were able to. She'd done her best to help them and Jeremy, no matter how big of a pain they were. And now she was stepping up again. So she nodded and said, "I know what I have to do."

Then, without warning, she ran over to Greta and bit her, likely thinking that her death would stop the curse, but Niklaus was there in seconds to stake her in the side, not hitting her heart.

"No!" Poppy screamed, pulling at her hair.

"Jenna, no!" Elena yelled. The three all looked at each other, wanting nothing more than to be there for each other, but knowing that that was impossible. Elena sniffed and nodded, not accepting, but knowing what was to come. "Jenna, just turn it off. Jenna, turn it off."

Poppy nodded, tears streaming down her face and feeling as if her own heart was being ripped out. "Jen, it's okay. Turn it off," she said. She was barely able to speak, but she made herself stay strong to spend these last moments together. She swallowed the lump that had been in her throat all evening, just to say one last thing to her aunt. "You won't feel anything. He won't scare you anymore... I love you, Jen."

Jenna nodded, a final tear sliding down her cheek. Her face changed, instead showing an emotionless palette, and they knew that it would all be over soon.

Niklaus flipped her over so that she was lying on her back, and gripped a stake in his hand. The wild look in his eyes made Poppy want to curl up in a ball and hide, and she absolutely hated it.

Then, without any more warning, he ran the stake through her heart. She was dead.

"Jenna!" both of the girls screamed as they saw the life drain out of their aunt's eyes.

Poppy sank onto the ground, doubling over and sobbing. Her savior had become a monster, right before her eyes. Her aunt was dead, and because of it, three _kids_ needed to figure out a new life. What was she going to do? How were they going to take care of Jeremy? How were they going to live in a world without their parents, _and_ their aunt?

Elena had the same thoughts rolling through her mind, but she turned them off. Instead, she turned to her sister, knowing that they had to stay strong. "Poppy," she said, looking at her twin. The blonde pulled herself together enough to look up, tears streaming down her face. "Poppy, we're going to get through this. Together. Nothing that Klaus does can tear us apart, okay?"

She nodded, and wished more than anything that she could get up and hug her sister. To have some type of anchor to hold on to. "Of course," she said.

Their attention was pulled away from each other to Stefan, who was gaining consciousness again. He snapped his bones back into place, then looked up and saw where Jenna's body was laid down. "No..." he whispered, closing his eyes. "I'm so sorry."

"Shh..." Elena said quietly with a finger to her lips. Then she whispered almost soundlessly, "Are they going to kill him?"

Stefan nodded. "Yes."

Poppy turned back to Klaus, who wasn't aware of their exchange. He walked over to them.

"It's time."

The wall of flames around Elena disappeared, just as they had with Jenna and Jules, and Niklaus held out his hand. Elena got up and walked past him, now only looking frustrated and tired with the whole situation. And if she were being honest, Poppy was too.

Elena went up to the alter, by where Jenna was just killed.

"Thank you, Elena," Niklaus said, grabbing her face and making her look at him. She only glared.

"Go to hell."

Poppy watched in horror, as she knew that she was going to watch her sister die as well. At least, if all else failed, she would come back as a vampire. The blonde clung to that one thread of hope, not wanting to hear anything bad for the rest of the night. It was bad enough that she'd watched her aunt die. Elena would come back as a vampire, and be okay.

Niklaus then pushed back her dark hair and bit her, not taking his time to drain her of blood. Poppy couldn't stop staring, as he felt the power go through him.

"I can feel it..." he said, his eyes wide. "It's happening."

Then, his bones started cracking as his werewolf side became active. He yelled in pain, feeling his body changing into a different one. He fell onto the forest floor, and his bones continued to shift in him. Then, it stopped abruptly.

Instead of hearing his yells, Poppy heard chanting. The circle around her was no longer burning with flames, and the pathway leading to the forest was now lined with torches flickering with a strong fire. Being the source of it all, Bonnie marched up, using her power to the fullest and looking powerful as all-hell. Poppy felt nothing but relief at the sight of her friend.

"No!" Niklaus yelled. "You were dead!"

The witch ignored him, and continued her chant.

Poppy couldn't look around fast enough – too much was happening. All that she knew was that the plan was working.

Damon showed up with Elena in his arms and laid her down next to Stefan. The young blonde crawled over to them, feeling too weak in the knees to get up and walk.

"Hey, twerp," the older Salvatore said, but not as bitingly as he normally did.

"Now's not the time, Damon. My aunt just died and I really don't have patience for your shit," she said, turning to focus her attention on her sister. She put her hand on her cheek and sighed. She would be in transition soon.

Poppy looked around, expecting Elijah to show up at any minute. Frankly, she didn't want to be around the brothers anymore, so she shakily got up onto her feet and watched Bonnie as she chanted.

In a blink, the man she was looking for appeared in front of Niklaus. He looked down at him with his hands stuffed in his pockets.

"Elijah?" Niklaus said, out of breath.

"Hello, brother," he said. Poppy bit her lip and watched from afar, knowing that this part would be what would determine everything.

Elijah pushed up his sleeve {so as not to get blood on it, of course} and shoved his hand into his brother's chest and grabbed hold of his heart. "In the name of our family, Niklaus..." he said, getting ready to pull it out.

"I didn't bury them at sea!"

Poppy froze. Okay, she wasn't expecting that.

"What?" Elijah asked.

"Their bodies are safe," he said, knowing his leverage. "And if you kill me, you'll never find them."

Poppy couldn't believe it. After all that he'd taken from her, he was going to walk away free. She knew what family meant to Elijah, and so did Niklaus. He wouldn't kill him if doing so would mean never being able to see his family again. And if there was a chance to see them, then he was going to take it.

"Elijah!" Stefan yelled, still hoping that there was a chance of keeping the deal. Which there wasn't. "Don't listen to him."

"Elijah," Niklaus breathed, unable to voice anything. "I can take you to them. I give you my word... brother."

"Do it and I'll take you both out," Bonnie said. Poppy shook her head at her friend. She didn't know what she wanted anymore, but she certainly didn't want Elijah dead.

"You'll die," he said in response, weighing his options.

"I don't care."

"Elijah," Poppy said, finally speaking up. He turned his head to her and she walked up to him. "We both know that you don't want to do this." She could feel Stefan and Bonnie's eyes burning into her. It had been the worst night of her life, but she couldn't let him do this to his brother. Nik knew where the rest of his family was, and if he did this, he would never get over it. "They're your family. And it's okay."

He looked at her for a moment and nodded, then quickly grabbed her and Niklaus and ran off.

* * *

It was several hours later, and Poppy was sat in Alaric Saltzman's old apartment with the infamous Katherine Pierce, unable to sleep or really _do_ anything. Her aunt died. Her sister was probably a vampire. Everything was gone. And, of course, Niklaus was still alive.

No, she didn't regret her decision to encourage Elijah to keep him alive. He wouldn't have been able to live with himself if he'd killed his own brother; his only connection to the siblings he thought he'd lost, long ago. In fact, Poppy was all right with that. It was what he needed to do.

Niklaus, on the other hand, was an entirely different story. She truly couldn't believe the nerve that the man had. He made her _watch_ as her legal guardian and sister were both murdered in front of her. What was even the point? Why did he drag her along for the ride?

Unfortunately, these questions couldn't be answered now, because he was off in the woods, wolfing out. Elijah had taken them away from the clearing and left Nik to his own devices, then brought Poppy to Niklaus' home-base and ran back to keep an eye on him. He told her that she could leave whenever she wanted, but she honestly didn't want to face her sister – or anyone, for that matter – after convincing Elijah to let his brother go.

While she wanted nothing more than to close her eyes and never open them again, she couldn't get herself to fall asleep. The few minutes that she would manage it, she would wake up gasping for breath after a haunting nightmare. And now, the sun was rising, leaving her with no possibility for sleep or rest.

It was difficult, to say the least.

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. Besides, she sort of enjoyed Katherine's company, anyway.

"Poppy, how did you manage to get an Original vampire wrapped around your little finger?" she asked after the momentary silence. The blonde looked up at her great-great-great-great grandmother {or something of the sort...}.

"Hey, you tell me," she said. It was strange seeing her sister's face on someone with such an opposite personality. Though she had to admit... Katherine had much better taste in clothes, and fashion in general. "I'm counting on it keeping me in good terms with Niklaus, though. He seems to have enjoyed my company so far."

The doppelgänger chuckled. "Yeah, I guess he has," she said. "He actually told me about you. He said you're feisty, which you are. He said you're stubborn, also. Maybe the Petrova attitude went on to you, rather than Elena."

Poppy hid a small smile. "Well, 'Lena's one of the most boring people you'll ever meet. I, on the other hand, am one of the greatest," she said. Then she turned away from her and looked down. "But I don't think Niklaus will like me very much after I strangle him for killing my aunt."

Katherine nodded. "Right. Sorry about that," she said. Poppy frowned and looked up at her. "Elena called you, remember?"

"Yeah, and?" she said, being too tired to catch onto whatever she was saying.

"It was me..." Katherine admitted. The young blonde looked at her and her hands curled into fists. Katherine stood up and backed away, showing her hands in surrender. "Whoa, there feisty. Don't come for me. Klaus made me. And I couldn't say no because it would blow my cover, and it was either me or your aunt. I chose your aunt."

Poppy ground her teeth. "What the hell did I ever do to deserve this?" she asked, mostly to herself. It wasn't fair. None of it.

"Listen..." the vampire said, stepping up to her. "I don't know what it is about the Petrova bloodline, but nothing good ever seems to happen to anyone in it. I would know, after all."

Before she could reply, Elijah entered the apartment. Poppy looked up at him and sighed, wishing that things could only go back to the way they were. Simple. Fun. Happy. The more she wished it, though, the more she knew it wasn't going to happen any time soon.

"Is Niklaus still... out?" she asked, standing from her seat. He nodded and slowly walked closer to her.

"Right, and I guess I should go?" Katherine asked, pointing to another room. Poppy turned and gave her a look. "Okay, okay, sorry. I get it. Been there, done that, whatever. I'll be in here."

She left the room and Poppy turned back to Elijah, lifting an eyebrow. "'Been there, done that'? I didn't strike you as the type," she said, smirking. She was glad that she could change the topic to something a bit lighter than what was happening.

"It was five hundred years ago," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, well... The Petrova bloodline seems to fool even the most decent of men. I mean, look at Stefan," she said. Elijah smiled, but it dropped after a second. He clearly wanted to move on to the important stuff.

"Poppy, Jenna's funeral will be held tomorrow," he said softly.

She stiffened up, and images of the night flashed in her mind. Niklaus turning to Jenna, inviting her to her death. Jenna running and biting Greta. Her face when she flipped the switch for her humanity. Her face when it turned gray with death. Something she had just witnessed hours ago.

"Hey," he said, getting her attention. He looked her in the eyes and cupped her cheek gently. "It will all be okay."

She shut her eyes tight for a second, then reached out and wrapped her arms around him. She'd managed to not completely fall apart until then, but she just couldn't take it anymore. Her aunt died. She was allowed to cry. She was allowed to be upset. She was allowed to want to be held and told that it would be okay. So, she did.

Elijah held her in his arms, his chin resting on her head. He rubbed her back gently as she sobbed into his chest. Throughout his thousand years of living, he'd gone through his own traumas and suffered through many deaths, but seeing it happen to the girl in front of him made him want to ignore that Niklaus knew where his siblings were completely, and just tear his brother limb from limb. No one so kind and innocent should have had to witness any of that, and once he had his hands on Niklaus, he would show him just how angry he truly was.

* * *

The next day, Elijah had driven Poppy to her house so that she could go to the funeral before they did whatever they were going to do next. He'd been firm in saying that she should go, and that she wasn't holding anything up because Niklaus was still in his wolf-form.

So there she was, in her room and getting ready for yet another funeral. One that apparently included the death of her birth father as well. When Elena ambushed her at the door, she told her that she wasn't a vampire because of some parent spell that traded a soul for a soul. Poppy was too tired to really follow, but she nodded along.

While she didn't particularly care for John, it still hurt that there was another death to go through. Every person that had been something like a parent to her was gone. Of course, Jenna was more like a sister, but at least she paid the bills and made sure they followed curfew. Now, though, she wasn't sure how they were going to move forward as a family.

Poppy sighed, putting on earrings that went with her black dress. After she did, she heard a knock on the door. She turned and saw Jeremy there, looking all made up in a nice suit. She smiled sadly at her brother and walked over to him.

"Hey, Jeremy," she said. He couldn't have been doing well. Not to mention that she hadn't really spent much one-on-one time with him the last week or so. He must have been falling apart just as badly as her and Elena, if not more. "How are you feeling?"

He looked at her, then looked down, shaking his head. Instead of answering with words, he hugged her tightly and she squeezed him back. Even though their blood didn't say so, he was still her little brother. As she held him, she felt a surge of protectiveness go over her, and she felt like she just wanted to hide him from any harm.

Too tough to cry in his sister's arms, though, Jeremy backed away after a few seconds. "It's just hard, you know?" he said in a very teenage-boy way. She pursed her lips, then placed a comforting hand on his arm.

"Little brother," she said, smirking when he pointedly looked down at her. "I'm here for you. Just talk to me. Hell, you can text me if you don't want it to be awkward and face-to-face. All that I want is for you to be happy, and if that means letting you rant, I am _so_ willing to put up with your teenage complaining."

He nodded, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, Poppy. I get it..."

"Jeremy," she said in a more demanding voice, raising an eyebrow. He sighed, but waited for her to continue. "It's better to talk to me about it, than to have it consume you and your mind. Okay? You can't just... keep letting these things happen without talking to anyone about it. You're the least messed-up one out of the three of us, and I plan on keeping it that way."

Her last comment made him smile, which was what she was going for.

"Alright. So, I guess it's off to the funeral," she said, grabbing her brother's hand and getting ready for the whirlwind of emotions that were sure to come.

* * *

 _ **And here's another one! Jenna's death was so sad to write, along with all of Poppy's emotions afterwards. It was also hard for me to portray Klaus as such a terrible person, but he's meant to be a villain, after all. Don't worry, though. She'll learn to understand why he is the way that he is soon enough, and hopefully be able to forgive him eventually.**_

 _ **To those wondering, it's going to be a very long time before Poppy becomes a vampire, and there are very complex plans that I have for all of it. Everything will sort themselves out eventually, and I'm so excited to show all of you!**_

 _ **Thank you for all of the reviews! They all mean so much to me and I appreciate everything that you have to say about Poppy and the rest of the story. They're so much fun to read, so please keep sending them in with general comments, and constructive criticism is more than welcome!**_

 _ **I'm starting to queue up a few chapters ahead again, and I must say that it's such a great feeling. My chapters are rolling out smoothly, and the plot is thickening.**_

 _ **~Alissa**_


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